Twists of Fate
by PokeSpeBanette
Summary: By some strange, perhaps even benevolent, twist of fate, Paul is no longer himself. Now starting in his home region at the age of ten, along with his starter pokemon, a Turtwig, and the world's meanest Shinx, Paul journeys through Sinnoh, helping to stop a few evil plots along the way. Discontinued because I dunno where I was going with it.
1. Chapter 1- Meet My Turtwig

Renny: Hmmm . . . ok, so I know I don't normally do this, and I've said that I hate Ash, but I've been watching DP for a bit now. I'm on episode 5/6 I think, so not very far into it, but I'm trying. Anyway, I'm gonna attempt to follow the storyline as loosely as possible since I hardly know the characters, and yes they will age, and yes Ash won't be a total moron. Team Rocket will be competent, but slightly weak, though you won't notice it since Paul's only just starting out.

Paul: . . . You . . . I don't know whether I should kill you or give you to my electivire for food.

Renny: Whateves, little boy.

Paul: You-! I'm fourteen!

Renny: Not anymore. *poof*

Paul: *now a ten year old* . . . Crap.

Renny: Suck it. Green!

Green: Huh?

Renny: Shocked you're still here I'm sure, but meh. I need you to do the disclaimer, now.

Green: Isn't it usually Red who does it on the first chapter?

Renny: . . . Damn, you're right! RED!

Red: Um, yes?

Renny: Disclaimer, now.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**Just a quick explanation!**

**Please note that this is my own storyline; yes there may be some bits from the games and the anime, but bear in mind that I can hardly remember the anime to begin with, so this is 'almost' original.**

**There will be a few extra towns and cities, and Paul won't go to a few. Also, if I can work out the timing, Paul may take part in some of the movies. Of which there are four. Uh . . . right, anyway.**

**Paul will be ten, as I've said before, and therefore he will just be starting out along with Dawn. In my headcannon for this world, it takes one year, maybe a bit less, to go around one region and a little bit. So, Ash will be fifteen because he's been through five regions- the Orange Islands sort of count as one even though I've never seen an episode of that. Brock is nineteen because he's meant to be the sort of mature guy (until Jenny or Joy appear, or any good looking woman), and Reggie is the same age because I see him as that, no matter the age of Paul himself.**

**Gary is fourteen because Green, who is much cooler and NOT ANOTHER VERSION OF HIM may I add (sorry, I like Gary as well, it's just that Green has a Charizard), is actually a few months younger than Red, and by that logic Gary is a few months younger than Ash.**

**The Rockets . . . well, who cares? They're adults. Ish. Maybe.**

**Anyway. On with the show!**

**oooo**

"Sandgem town . . . Sandgem town . . . Oh, here we are!"

Paul was startled awake by his older brother's shout. The ten year old, purple haired boy blinked away any signs of sleep and looked out the window. Indeed, they were in Sandgem town already. Sheesh, Reggie sure knew how to drive the van . . .

"You excited?" Reggie grinned while glancing down at Paul as they slowed to a sort of reasonable pace for a van with what was probably a kick-crazy driver.

"I . . . guess?" Paul murmured. He blinked. He still wasn't sure why Reggie was making such a fuss about this, what the heck was so exciting about a party that had, what, ten people?

For one thing, Paul hated getting wet, and the place was near a beach, which meant the sea. Secondly he hadn't the first clue how to swim, which was obvious since he hated getting wet. He would only tolerate it if he was in the bath or something.

"Aw come on, everyone loves their tenth birthday!" Reggie laughed.

" . . . Yeah, I know." Paul sighed.

Reggie's good mood dampened a little bit, and the little boy's older brother looked sympathetic now. He patted Paul on the shoulder gently.

"Next year, bro." He mumbled. "Ricky hasn't gotten his starter yet, and he's already twelve. So at least you've got that going, right?"

"Ok."

They got out of the van, though Paul was still careful not to slam it too hard or slam it too soft. He still had no idea how the things worked. The beach of Sandgem town was south of the town, a massive patch of sand where Trainers could go and catch some sea pokemon, and where, usually, partiers went.

All of this, and the fact that Paul was now ten today, sort of killed his bad mood. Despite hating water with a massive passion (though he didn't mind water pokemon, the ones Reggie had and looked after were nice), he liked the beach. Probably because he could make sand castles, but that was maybe just him.

"Hey, look!" Reggie cried, as they came up to the beach. "Dad's here, and there's the rest of the Frontier!"

Paul glanced ahead to see his own father, Brandon the Pyramid King, watching the two approach with a cool expression. He was standing near a large umbrella that Paul knew was designed for beaches, but Paul still didn't understand why the things weren't used for rain as well as sun. The other Frontier Brains, Lucy, Noland, Greta, Tucker, Spenser and Anabel stood behind him. They were attracting a very large amount of stares, but that was a given since they were famous.

But why would they bother coming all the way from Kanto just for a single day? While Paul did sort of resent Brandon for not being able to spend much time with either of his sons, he also understood that the man couldn't get away from the Battle Frontier as challengers were incredibly demanding, and so the three made do with video-phone calls.

"Good morning to you two." Brandon nodded as soon as they were within speaking range.

"It's afternoon, actually." Reggie laughed. Brandon paused, looking awkward.

"Ah, don't worry about it." Tucker, ever the joker, giggled. "I'm sure Mr King over there doesn't mind being corrected, why, even I thought it was morning, I'm still on Kanto time!"

"Uncle Tucker, your sense of time's usually so bad anyway you can't tell what time it is even if you're in Kanto." Paul told him bluntly. Tucker, to his credit, just laughed.

"Anyway, we're not here to discuss time." Lucy broke in, smiling a little despite herself. "Brandon brought you a present, which he only got because all of us basically forced him to do so. Reggie kind of helped."

"Hey, I'm the one that told him to get his stick out of his butt and be nice for once." Reggie frowned.

"Of course, sweetie."

And now Paul was officially confused beyond belief. Reggie had called Brandon? When? And it had concerned him? If so, why wasn't Paul himself allowed into the discussion as well?

Brandon sighed as everyone turned to him collectively. He rummaged through his pockets and brought out a flat piece of something wrapped up in little pokeball themed wrapping paper. He handed it to Paul, who stared at him for a further three seconds to unnerve the man, and then the boy looked down at the thing in his hands.

Was it a card of some kind? It felt like one, but why would anyone wrap up a card?

"Before you open that," Brandon coughed. "I'd like to say that what I said last month still stands. I think that the world is too dangerous and that you should wait another year so you can learn more. However . . ."

Well, this was starting to make sense now. Paul quickly tore off the paper and almost dropped the card the second he'd gotten the paper off.

It was as big as his hand, blue in colour, with a red and white pokeball on both sides. One side had a map of some sort on it, while the other had an invitation and three pictures of pokemon Paul knew all too well; Piplup, Turtwig, and Chimchar. In Reggie's Daycare, many Trainers dropped of those pokemon for training and Paul had gotten to know the different quirks of each species.

"The others, and your brother, 'persuaded' me to finally take back my decision and allow you to get your first pokemon now and not next year." Brandon finished.

Paul couldn't say anything. He looked up at his father, the Pyramid King, and saw the face and eyes of a nervous dad who wanted to make his son happy. Well, guess what? He'd succeeded.

"Dad, I . . ." Paul broke off almost the second he tried to speak.

And completely shocked everyone, including himself, when he threw himself forward and hugged his much taller father around the waist, mumbling out his thanks. After a second's hesitation, Paul felt Brandon wrap his own arms around Paul's body in a return hug, though it felt strange because Paul was used to Reggie's soft handlings and not Brandon's hard and awkward ones. He dealt with it, though, because he was way too happy to even care how weird it looked.

Reggie decided to join in the hug as well, and soon enough the whole lot of them- even the other Brains- were hugging with Brandon in the middle, still looking and probably feeling as weird as a Magikarp out of water. And that was saying something, because usually Brandon could take on anything.

When they'd finally broken apart, Paul couldn't seem to wipe the massive grin off his face. He hadn't smiled properly since last month, when he'd found out he wouldn't be getting his starter pokemon.

"T-thank you." Paul gasped out again.

"Don't wear it out." Brandon muttered, though he was smiling as well.

"Well, seeing you grin like that has made my day." Reggie laughed, patting Paul's head. "I suppose now would be a good time for me to say that there was never any party at all, we just wanted to get you down here without causing suspicion."

"It worked, but I'm not complaining." Paul said dismissively, shrugging.

"I think you'd better go, now." Noland suddenly announced, glancing at his watch. As the only one who probably remembered to change from Kanto time to Sinnoh, he most likely knew better than the others did. "Professor Rowan said that he always likes to give new Trainer's their pokemon together, and I think by now the other one should be there."

Paul's mind drew a blank for a few seconds before he looked down at the card and saw the time on it; 13:30. According to Reggie's digital watch, it was 13:25 now.

Oh.

"Uh-"

"Go on!" Reggie urged him. "Get your starter, and come back here so we can see it!"

Paul nodded and dashed off immediately. However, he stopped when Brandon shouted to him.

"I know you haven't the first clue about reading a map, but please try to follow the directions this time!" The man called.

A few of the Brains laughed, and Paul felt his cheeks heat up a bit. He nodded and started running again, looking forward to when he could get Brandon back for that. As soon as he got his pokemon, that is. Whatever it would be, anyway.

Before last month, Paul had spent a lot of time with some of the starter pokemon dropped off at the Daycare. He'd discovered that Piplup, while slightly lacking in terms of battling, was incredibly good at taking hits, and was also very proud and was the best protected out of the three Sinnoh starters when it came to the cold. Chimchar, despite being a fire type, seemed more likely to freeze faster than even Turtwig, and seemed to be the more melee type fighter, much like Infernape, Reggie's own starter. Turtwig was more on the defensive side, and while it evolved into a slow pokemon, happened to be incredibly durable and intelligent.

He didn't have the time to make the decision of which one he was even going to get, but if push came to shove Paul sort of hoped for Turtwig. It was the most relaxed out of the three, or the ones he'd been with had been anyway. Reggie sometimes told stories about Infernape's time as a Chimchar and a Monferno, and the Piplups usually stayed away from Paul until he earned their respect or trust, whichever one the penguin pokemon preferred at the time.

He looked at the map on the card, and stopped. Brandon had said to actually try this time, so Paul tried to make sense of the lines overlapping each other. There were words on some parts, saying 'Rowan's lab' and other such things, but since Paul didn't get the lines he didn't get the words either, because, to him, they were just plotted randomly on a piece of card.

He was so caught up in trying to read the stupid map that he didn't even notice the girl with the pink bike walking up behind him. She pulled up to his side and looked at the card, and then grinned.

"You're starting as well?" The girl asked happily.

Paul just about jumped out of his skin. He whirled around and almost tripped, but the girl grabbed his wrist before he even fell down. When the purple haired boy had righted himself, he studied the girl in front of him.

She was about the same height as him, albeit slightly taller, so they were both probably the same age give or take a few months older for the girl. She wore a black, sleeveless dress that was sort of short with a pink frill thing at the bottom, and pink boots. The girl had strange midnight blue hair, and her eyes were only slightly lighter.

"My name's Dawn, what's yours?" The girl asked, holding out a hand.

Paul blinked and shook her hand carefully. He wasn't used to this, if it hadn't been so much obvious before, so he had no idea how to treat the girl. Oh, wait, answer her question, duh.

"P-Paul." He said quietly. If you had asked Paul sometime in the future, he would have told you, while blushing a little, that no, he did not stammer out his first words to his fellow starting Trainer.

"Cool name." Dawn giggled. She started off down the road, and Paul, though he felt as though it was probably gonna be bad luck, followed her at a small pace.

"Yours . . . is as well." He told her.

He felt awkward trying to talk to someone he'd just met, but it didn't really register because all the girl did was talk anyway.

"Thanks!"

The two wandered around for a while until Paul realised that not only were they lost, but they'd been going in circles for the past ten minutes.

"Oh no, we're late!" Dawn moaned, as she looked up at the clock tower they'd passed about three times already.

"Maybe we could try just going straight?" Paul suggested. He had gotten to know the girl a bit more during the ten minutes that they'd spent doing nothing but walk in circles, and apparently it turned out that she wanted to be a Top Coordinator like her mother, who just so happened to be Johanna Vatto. Paul might not have looked like the type, but he liked to watch Contests because of the styles, moves and unique pokemon that appeared in them.

Reggie also liked to watch them as well, if only for entertainment.

But anyway, since Paul knew who her mother was, it made her feel a bit more like him, because they both had a famous parent. Well, both doing completely different things, but you get the point.

"Or we could ask around . . ."

They tried both.

"Can't anyone in this stupid town give us real directions?" Dawn muttered, pulling her bike along sulkily.

"Maybe they do it on purpose." Paul mused, watching the guy they'd just asked walk away. His answer to their question had been a somewhat strange ballet of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'.

"They do." A new voice said.

This time when Paul turned around, he managed to compose himself. It came crashing down when he realised that the person in front of them was Professor Rowan himself.

"The two of you were meant to look at the map I gave you and deduce from where you would need to start walking from." Rowan said, looking incredibly irritated, taking Paul's card from him and showing the side with the map on. "The bold line was meant to lead you straight to my lab, anywhere along this line would have been good enough to solve the mystery."

"I-I can't read a map, sir." Paul quietly told him.

"That doesn't matter." Rowan sighed. "What does matter is that the two of you are incredibly late, and the three starters are now getting restless because of this."

"We're really sorry, sir!" Dawn cried, clasping her hands. "We'll make it up to you somehow!"

"No need." The old man sighed, sort of reminding Paul about his father. Which also reminded him he hadn't told Dawn who his father was. "Since the two of you are very late and apparently can't get a sense of direction without outside help, I'll have to lead you to my lab myself."

Ouch. No one said anything about Rowan being this harsh or blunt. Then again, Paul could be like that when he wanted to be, so why was he complaining? At least he was still getting his pokemon.

"I forgot to ask, what starter do you think you want?" Dawn asked as they walked behind Rowan.

"Uh, I was kinda hoping for Turtwig, but if you want it-"

"No, no, that's fine!" Dawn laughed. "I'm still kinda figuring out which one I want. That leaves me with two pokemon, then!"

While Paul didn't really like that he was limiting her choices (and after all, Reggie taught him to always let girls go first) he also admired Dawn's ability to be so nice that you just couldn't say no to her no matter what. If it was conscious, then it was slightly worrying, but Paul might be getting the Turtwig so he didn't go too deeply into it. She had offered, but he would allow her first pick anyway.

When they finally got to the lab (which took like three minutes, seriously what had they been doing?), three of Rowan's assistants greeted him, looking from Dawn to Paul in exasperation. Hey, not their fault that their idea of a map was a bunch of sticks and bold stuff.

"Are the pokemon ready still?" Rowan asked, walking inside without as much as a greeting.

The assistants seemed used to this, and so they followed. Dawn and Paul made their way in after them.

"They've been ready for a while now." The only female assistant said.

"Let's not keep them waiting any longer, then."

Rowan led them through a few hallways and they finally came out into a large room with big windows, and a whole load of scientific stuff Paul didn't understand. In the middle of the room was a metal table, upon which stood the three pokemon he'd spent so much time studying the behaviours of them and such.

"I'm sure the two of you know what these pokemon are, but just in case . . ." Rowan began, walking to the side of the table. "This one is called Chimchar."

Like all Chimchar, the fire monkey gave an excited squeak and bounced around happily. It was likely that Dawn would probably choose this pokemon, as it seemed to be the one to want to show off the most.

"This is Piplup."

The Piplup watched Dawn and Paul with a curious expression. It looked almost like it was judging the two of them, but there were no psychics around, so Paul didn't know what was up with the calculating look he was getting.

"And finally, Turtwig."

The little green turtle yawned and stood up from its curled up position, and looked at Paul straight in the eyes. The Turtwig titled its head, and gave a very strange looking smile, what with the jagged mouth/teeth and all.

"Now, I heard the two of you talking." Rowan said. "So, Paul-"

"Sir, if it's ok, Dawn can have first pick." Paul interrupted.

Everyone in the room looked surprised, but Rowan nodded slightly. Dawn, still looking a bit shocked, stepped forward and examined the three pokemon in front of her. Paul couldn't help but notice that she gave the least amount of time to Turtwig, probably because she was definitely leaving the Turtwig for Paul.

"I choose . . ."

Turtwig probably knew it wasn't being chosen, yet, so it sat back and watched. Chimchar and Piplup stood up straighter, trying to outdo each other.

"Piplup!" Dawn cried out, her grin massive.

Even the little penguin itself was surprised. It had clearly thought that Chimchar would be chosen instead of itself.

Dawn picked up the Piplup and stepped back with it, grinning happily. Piplup got over its shock eventually and started being all smiles as well, while Paul walked up to the metal table after Rowan gave him the go-ahead.

The Turtwig jumped right into his arms before Paul even got two feet away from the table. He grunted, having not expected the sudden weight, and stumbled around for a second or two before he stood properly.

Rowan congratulated the two on their choices, and both new trainers were given their standard sets of five empty pokeballs, and their own pokedexs. Dawn's was a light pink colour while Paul's was a deep blue colour, probably something about the gender stuff, but he paid no mind to the colour as he pocketed the device.

"Now, here are Piplup and Turtwig's pokeballs." Rowan said, handing over said items. "Ryan over there has already taken the liberty to transfer ownership from me to the two of you, so don't worry. Also, while we're still here, would either of you like to nickname your starter?"

Paul was about to say no when a small bite on his hand stopped him. He glanced down at the Turtwig, who was giving Paul the hardest stare that somehow wasn't a glare he'd ever gotten, which kind of worried the boy since he didn't know what the grass type wanted.

Dawn appeared to talk it over quietly with Piplup, who eventually shook its head and so didn't receive a nickname. Maybe that was what Turtwig wanted, to discuss it instead of having Paul say everything?

The boy glanced down at his new pokemon and watched it nod briefly. Wait, did that mean the Turtwig wanted a nickname?

"You want a nickname?" Paul asked, just to be sure. The turtle nodded. "Ok . . . um . . . stop me when I get to one you like."

Paul started listing off a load of names he knew, mostly males. He noticed that Turtwig always shook its head on all of the female ones, wore sort of a neutral expression with the double-gendered ones, and think it over a bit with the male ones. So obviously Turtwig was male, then. After figuring this out, Paul went only for males or uni-sex names, both of which Turtwig seemed to have a hard time with.

"Parker? Micky? Nick? Nico? Rich? Danny? Milo?" Paul listed rapidly. Turtwig suddenly cried out and Paul mentally backpedalled. "Milo? You wanna be called Milo, then?"

The grass type nodded.

And thus the little Turtwig, who was now Paul's partner as a Trainer, was given the name Milo.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Not much to say here, but I will be putting Paul's team on every chapter so everyone can keep up with the progress.

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 5, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

Green: Every chapter? Even when there's not a new pokemon?

Renny: Yes. Anyway, read and review please!


	2. Chapter 2- Adding To The Team

Renny: I may like this one. A lot. Maybe I'll even put Red and Green in as extra characters or something . . .

Green: How're you gonna swing that one?

Renny: Dunno, but I may try. Anyway, Paul has a fifty-fifty chance of getting his first caught pokemon in this chapter, but if the talking goes past what I wanted it to be then probably not.

Paul: Let me guess, my first one is the shinx.

Renny: Wrong, genius. Anyway, disclaimer!

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

Paul walked out of the lab gates, holding the newly named Milo in his arms. Dawn followed him, and after waving goodbye to Rowan, the two set off down the road of Sandgem town.

"Where are you going now then?" Dawn asked.

"Uh, the beach." Paul answered, glancing in said direction. Hopefully he wouldn't get lost on the way back. "My dad's there."

"Oh, cool! I've gotta get going to Route 202, so maybe we'll see each other on the way to Jubilife?"

Paul agreed, and after parting ways, began to imagine exactly what was in Jubilife city. He knew there was a Contest Hall, so Dawn was probably going to enter that. Maybe he could finally go and watch a real life Contest by making his way there too? But first, Paul would have to go and show off Milo to his family.

Getting lost didn't seem to be an issue anymore. It seemed that Milo knew his way around Sandgem town, and was more than happy to help his new Trainer get back to the beach. Though from the way Milo's chest was trying to puff out in Paul's arms, the boy guessed that the Turtwig just wanted to show off.

It took three minutes of Milo's directions through short cuts and other such things to get back to the beach, where Paul saw Reggie, Brandon and the Brains sitting on the sand, probably waiting for him to get back. Paul decided not to tell his father about the little blunder he had in getting to the lab.

Before Paul could announce his arrival, Milo jumped out of his arms and dashed right up to them. Paul quickly followed in case Milo decided to bite them or something. Turtwig have been known to do that.

"Oh, who's this little guy?" Reggie cooed, picking up Milo almost straight away. "Who's your Trainer? Or maybe you're wild?"

"He's mine." Paul said, sitting down next to his brother. Reggie jumped, which gave Paul a small satisfaction that he finally startled Reggie.

"So, you chose Turtwig . . ." Reggie said, putting down Milo gently.

"Twig!" Milo cried happily, crawling over to Brandon.

"Good pokemon." Brandon commented. "Its final evolution, Torterra, is incredibly powerful and can withstand anything, you know."

"Yeah, there one a year ago in the Daycare." Paul nodded. That Torterra had been battling when Paul got back from Trainer's School, and he'd watched it take hits from even fire types and still stand back up.

"Ah, yes. I remember Reggie telling me it got into fisticuffs with Infernape." Greta smiled as if she were remembering some fond memory. "Who broke them up again?"

"Paul did, surprisingly enough." Reggie smirked. "Though he got a few cuts and burns in the process."

"I didn't know they were fighting for real until Infernape tried to kill the thing." Paul muttered, crossing his arms. "Hopefully Milo won't be like that."

"Milo?"

"The Turtwig."

Reggie looked surprised himself, making Paul wonder what he'd done that was so weird.

"What is it?" The boy asked cautiously.

"It's just . . . didn't you say you weren't gonna name them?" Reggie asked, frowning.

"I remember him saying that, yes." Brandon narrowed his eyes. "What changed your mind, Paul?"

" . . . Milo wanted a name." Paul murmured, feeling hot under the collar as almost the whole group stared at him. Tucker, as usual, was completely different.

"It's a fine name!" The man cried, grinning, and then he tapped Milo on the shell. "A fine name for a fine pokemon, no doubt."

"T-thanks?"

They spoke for a while about Paul's options as a Trainer. While Brandon did express greatly that he wanted Paul to compete in the League, Reggie broke in saying that Paul could do whatever he wanted to do. Thus it sparked a small argument between the two about whether or not Contests could be useful, though Paul had no idea how Contests came into it. Probably because he liked watching them, but oh well.

"I think," Spencer, who up until now had been silent, spoke up very loudly, halting all conversations and arguments. "That Paul should be allowed to do what he wants to do, regardless of outside persuasions."

"But-"

"Brandon, you cannot control him."

" . . . Fine then." Brandon sighed.

Paul watched Reggie resign himself to a short glare at their dad, and wondered if both had already had this discussion before. He wondered just how many times someone had to break in just to stop them arguing. Why was this so important? Paul had heard of Freelancers of pokemon before, they were always around. People who did everything and slacked off nothing, including Gym battles and Contests alike.

Maybe Paul could do that? But then again, that meant he'd probably have to deal with people looking down on him for choosing anything and everything. It wasn't that uncommon, but many people who were Freelancers usually kept it to themselves and did their passions in secret, choosing a single thing to show to the public. While there were some different types of Freelancers, like just doing two or three things and not everything, Paul felt as though he didn't really understand it much.

When he'd wanted to be a Trainer, all Paul had wanted was to travel and catch pokemon, perhaps even win a few Gym battles along the way, maybe even some Contests. Maybe he could try doing both Gym battles and Contests instead then?

He said nothing, though the look Spencer gave him assured Paul that the old man knew exactly what he was thinking. Despite Paul confirming that Spencer was not psychic by means of almost unlimited questions, he still had that strange doubt that Spencer was hiding his uncanny ability to deduce pretty much anything from anyone without even opening his mouth.

It was impressive, but right now Paul was glad because Spencer didn't seem to want to blurt out Paul's decision any time soon.

At one point, Noland walked off for whatever reason, and Paul, as his eyes followed the Frontier Brain, noticed that a lot of people were still watching. Well, so much for not telling everyone in sight who his father was. Or maybe they'd just think he was a distant relative or something . . .

When Noland came back, he was holding two packages. One seemed more lumpy than the other, and Noland gave him that one before setting down the other- a box- down on the ground. Paul turned over the lumpy package, figuring it must be clothes, and carefully tore into it with some prompting from Reggie and Tucker.

It was a bag. A very pale blue coloured one, with a single strap, and darker blue lines going across it in a few places. It also looked expensive, but Paul knew by now not to be fooled by looks alone.

"The second Dad finally got the card, me and Tucker discussed bags." Reggie explained, as Milo decided he wanted to sniff at the bag. Paul nodded, wary because Milo might try to bite it, and listened to Reggie talk. "We found that one online actually, on some bidding site. People were giving ridiculous amounts for it, so when we put down a more reasonable price, I guess the person selling just gave it to us to end the stupidity."

"What was the highest price?" Paul asked, feeling incredibly amused.

"Wasn't it, like, 1000 Poke or something?" Reggie asked Tucker, who nodded, smirking.

Well. That was certainly weird. Some parents, or the kids themselves, were so desperate for a bag they were willing to pay 1000 Poke . . . Weirdoes.

The second package, the box that is, turned out to be a cake. Having never had one on a birthday before, Paul was a bit shocked, but figured that Brandon had been forced by some of the other Brains since they were all getting together. So, more to the benefit of the Frontier Brains, but at least he got cake.

It wasn't that big, just enough for a slice each, with red, blue and green icing. Paul knew the colours represented the three starter pokemon's types, and there was ten candles resting on top of the cake. Anabel lit them all up, and when Paul blew them out, they cheered.

"What'd you wish for?" Reggie asked him cheerfully.

"It won't come true if I tell you." Paul said, repeating words he'd heard at another birthday party before.

"Hah, guess that's true."

Paul didn't actually wish for anything, but he did sort of want a good adventure.

**oooo**

**-A few hours later-**

By now it was getting darker, but Paul could still see in front of himself, so he just guessed it to be around evening or something. The Frontier Brains had gone back to whatever they arrived in, as it was apparently parked outside of the town, and after a very happy goodbye, they all parted from each other.

Now, Reggie had brought out his Bibarel, so that he could help Paul out with something he'd been asking since after the cake had been cut.

Reggie was going to help Paul catch his first pokemon.

"Alright, I think this is Route 202, so I'd have to guess . . ." Reggie hummed slightly. "Bidoof, Shinx of course, Starly, Kricketot, um . . ."

"What about Buneary?" Paul asked.

"Buneary doesn't live here; I think they're in Eterna Forest . . ."

"Then what's that one doing over there?"

Reggie looked up from his own pokedex, worn from years of use, and blinked. He looked over to where Paul was pointing. Sure enough, there was a Buneary.

"But . . . what the heck?" Reggie blinked. "I'm sure the pokedex said they lived in Eterna Forest . . ."

"Apparently they migrated."

The Buneary seemed not to notice them as it hopped around. Paul noticed a few more just up ahead, bouncing around in the bushes.

"I'll have to tell Professor Rowan later." Reggie muttered. "Anyway, this is convenient, however strange it is. I can show you how to catch a pokemon and give one of these to Professor Rowan at the same time . . ."

Paul sat down with Milo at his feet, waiting for Reggie to begin. He muttered to himself a little more, before turning to Bibarel and nodding.

"Bi!" Bibarel grinned, stepping forward.

Contrary to popular belief, Reggie's Bibarel was actually incredibly powerful. Bibarel was also Reggie's first capture as a Trainer, and so had been with him as long as Infernape had been. Somehow, Bibarel also happened to be the most intelligent out of all of Reggie's pokemon as well.

"Use Tackle, but keep it to a weak nudge as best you can." Reggie instructed.

Milo made a small sound of interest. Paul patted the Turtwig's head, wondering if they'd need to hold back like Reggie was. Considering how Milo was still a weak pokemon, and had yet to even have his first battle, Paul didn't really think so. But one day, they would become so powerful that they'd have to hold back on weaker catches!

Bibarel slowly crept up to the buneary without making a single sound. Paul kept a close eye on how the normal/water type moved, so that he could help Milo out with doing the same. Of course, when Milo evolved, it would be a different story altogether and Milo would be too heavy to creep up on stuff.

"Now." Reggie whispered.

If Bibarel heard him, he gave no sign. However, a second after Reggie's order, Bibarel dashed forward and hit the Buneary on the head, making it squeal and run out into the open. Bibarel followed it, and hit it again, making it fall down comically.

"And now all you need to do is throw a pokeball." Reggie told Paul, grabbing one from his own bag. He tapped the button on the ball, which made it grow to a size a little bigger than Paul's hand if he curled it a bit, and then chucked it straight at the buneary with practised ease.

The Buneary was swallowed into the ball, and it fell down and shook several times before making a small 'ping' sound. Bibarel grabbed the ball with his front paws and made his way back over to Reggie, handing him the pokeball.

Paul stood up, and Reggie turned to him, grinning.

"It's that easy." His older brother said. "All you do is weaken the pokemon, use status conditions if you can, but don't make the pokemon faint. Pokeballs used for catching wild pokemon don't work if they're unconscious. It also helps to catch the pokemon if you know where to aim as well."

"You need to aim? I thought you just threw the ball and it gets pulled towards the pokemon no matter where you throw it." Paul said.

"Well, that's true, but you still need to aim. There's actually a five foot diameter that allows the ball to be pulled to the pokemon; if the ball is thrown anywhere outside of that diameter, it won't work at all, it'll just be a normal ball that missed." Reggie explained. "But if you're really good at throwing, you can hit the pokemon on their weak points, which are really good targets if you want to have a sure-fire capture."

"So was the Buneary's ear its weak point?"

"That's right." Reggie nodded. "But that's for more experienced Trainers, so don't try it until you get the hang of catching pokemon, got that?"

Paul nodded. After all that, he was itching to catch his own pokemon now.

"Alright then. Five hours, and then come and find me. I'll probably be at professor Rowan's lab, ok?"

"Ok."

Reggie nodded to him and then walked off, Bibarel following. When the two were gone, Paul turned to Milo and gave the smallest grin he could manage, which threatened to become something way bigger because of how excited he felt.

"Let's go!" Paul cried. Milo nodded happily and the two dashed off into the forest ahead of them.

Two hours of searching later, and a few bruises courtesy of a very angry Kricketot, Paul had finally caught a pokemon.

Milo had Tackled it right off the bat without any orders from Paul, but he didn't really mind. The Buneary- Paul thought maybe this was something like a sign, he didn't know- almost hit Paul when it fell out of the tree it had been napping in, one which Paul had accidently thrown a pokeball at (he'd been trying to catch a Starly, but the bird had flown away as he'd thrown the ball). The Buneary, though they were usually docile according to Reggie, screeched and attacked without even pausing. That was when Milo intervened, and while the battle progressed, with the Buneary getting more vicious as time went on, Paul was able to get his new bag from around his shoulders and dig into it, trying to find one of the five empty pokeballs Rowan had given him.

Luckily Paul found one right before the Buneary used some sort of move that involved its ear, most likely a Pound attack since Dizzy Punch was a little bit further up the level for a Buneary. Paul quickly threw the ball right at the bunny pokemon, hitting it on the ear that was outstretched (Paul silently cheered when he realised this awesome accident) and sucking the Buneary right into the red and white ball.

It shook several times like Reggie's had done, and then pinged slightly. Although happy he'd caught his first pokemon, Paul was more relieved than anything.

"Turt, twig." Milo sighed, tapping the ball with a front leg cautiously. He glanced up at Paul as if to say 'you're not seriously considering keeping this thing, are you?'.

"Maybe it'll calm down when it's healed." Paul mused, picking up the ball. He thought about how evil the thing was, and then backtracked. "Or maybe not . . . Come on, Milo."

Walking back took about an hour now that they weren't checking bushes and such for pokemon. Luckily Paul still had about two hours left of Reggie's time, so he quickly found the pokemon centre (Milo was like a compass) and asked the nurse there to heal both Milo and the Buneary, who Paul hoped would be calm enough for him to ask if it wanted a name.

While waiting for both of his new pokemon to be healed, Paul decided to sit down in one of the lobby chairs. He saw a few other Trainers, mostly ones with the starter pokemon and the occasional Starly or Bidoof, but he also saw a veteran trainer with an Empoleon by her side. That was what Dawn would have, Paul thought.

When Milo and the Buneary were healed, Paul settled back down on a chair with a table in front of it. Milo hopped onto the table next to the Buneary's pokeball, and gave Paul another look.

"What? You know very well this is my first catch." Paul huffed, crossing his arms. "It's almost tradition to keep your first catch on your team, and not box it unless necessary."

"Twig, twig." Milo said.

"I don't speak pokemon, sorry." Paul smirked. Milo rolled his eyes. "Ok, whatever. Let's talk to the Buneary now . . ."

Maybe it was because of the beating Milo had taken from the Buneary, but Milo seemed even more cautious when Paul reached forward to let the Buneary out of its ball. The pokeball opened up with a pop, and the Buneary appeared in a flash of white light.

"Hi there." Paul greeted it.

"Bun!" The Buneary smiled happily. It giggled, which confused Paul so much he forgot Milo was next to him, so when the grass type spoke, he jumped.

"Twig turt-wig?" Milo asked.

"Neary, bunear-bun bun!" The Buneary cried.

Paul exchanged bewildered looks with Milo, and they both collectively shrugged. Maybe the Buneary was only vicious because they'd woken it up?

"Ok, um, right." Paul said, getting his pokedex out. "I'm gonna scan you now, so can you stay still for a bit?"

The Buneary didn't even twitch as the red light shone from the pokedex, going over its body. Ok, so it was definitely probable that the Buneary had only been so evil because they'd woken it up by accident.

The pokedex showed some interesting data on the Buneary, and also revealed its personal data as well. The buneary was actually pretty powerful, which was unusual since many people considered the pokemon to be weak, and also happened to be male. The last bit surprised Paul since the buneary was acting more like a female pokemon would, but he shrugged and put away the pokedex when he was done with it.

"Alright then, now . . . do you want a nickname, or do you just wanna be called Buneary?" Paul asked the pokemon.

"Bun!" The Buneary grinned.

That was more or less a yes.

Let's see . . . Paul didn't really have any ideas for names, but maybe it could be something to do with rabbits? A bit silly, maybe, but it was probably worth it . . . Or maybe a random name like Milo's had been? Hmm . . .

There was . . . one thing . . .

"How about Lepus? It means rabbit." Paul suggested.

The Buneary stared at him for a total of three seconds before giggling and squealing happily. _This is a male? _Paul wondered, staring at the newly named Lepus.

Milo was staring at him, looking very impressed. He said something, probably asking how Paul knew what the word meant, though the boy could only guess since it sounded like a question.

"Twig, twig turt?"

"You wanna know how I know the word?" Paul guessed. Milo nodded. "It's this, uh, old language. Called Latin, I think. Apparently Veilstone was one of the first human settlements, so people there honour their ancestors by learning their words and all that."

Milo smiled.

Paul stood and stretched, a bit tired from walking and running for two whole hours, but he didn't feel like he wanted to sleep at all.

"Ok, let's go and find Reggie. He said he'd be at Professor Rowan's place, right?" Paul asked. Milo nodded. "Great. Can you lead me there again?"

Milo shrugged. Before Paul could say anything, Lepus jumped onto his head, and Milo wormed his way into his arms. Paul sighed, realising that neither wanted to walk despite having being healed up literally minutes before.

"What am I, a taxi service?" Paul muttered.

The two pokemon gave him blank looks. Paul sighed.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I kinda lost the bit after when Lepus says 'yes I want a name', so I needed to rewrite the whole thing. I was kinda writing the third chapter and accidently saved it as 'ToF c2' and this chapter got deleted. Luckily I found the unfinished version in recycling though.

Green: Aren't you gonna do the teams thing?

Renny: Oh, yeah!

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 5, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

**Buneary (Lepus) - Level: 4, Ability: Limber, Gender: Male, Nature: Hardy**

Renny: And that's that. In the next chapter we finally meet Ash and co., and Team Rocket. Chaos is sure to reign. Read and review!


	3. Chapter 3- Kidnapped

Renny: I may be going somewhere with this.

Paul: Let me know when it does. *walks off*

Renny: Ugh. Anyway, who did the disclaimer last time?

Green: Me.

Renny: Ok then, do it Red.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

"You sure you don't want me to drive you?" Reggie asked, hanging out the van's window with a worried frown.

"I'll be fine." Paul insisted. "This is what a Trainer _does_, anyway."

"I know, but-"

"You sound like Dad."

" . . . Fine." Reggie sighed. "There's a halfway pokemon centre near a train station between Sandgem and Jubilife, so call me when you get there, ok?"

"Why is there a train station in the middle of the forest?"

"Dunno, ask the people who built it."

"Aren't they dead?" Paul wondered. Reggie shrugged.

They bid farewell to each other, and Paul watched as the van grew smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared. Lepus hopped onto his head again and cooed at him happily, burrowing into his purple hair like it was a nest of some sort.

"I am not a nest." Paul muttered under his breath. Milo chuckled at him, so Paul sent the grass type a glare.

Even though Paul had been into the forest before, he hadn't gone very far in the last time. He'd only stayed closer to the town, if only to stay away from the stronger wild pokemon that could probably take out Milo and Lepus in one hit.

"Native Sinnoh pokemon . . ." Paul muttered, going through the list. "In Route 202, Reggie said it was Bidoof, Shinx, Starly and Kricketot. Buneary have come here from Eterna Forest for some reason, and further in there might be a herd of Stantler. We need to be careful of the Stantler."

Milo nodded and started saying something, but Paul had no idea what was being said.

"Sorry, still don't speak pokemon."

"But I do!"

The sudden strange and accented voice started Paul. He froze for a split second and then whirled around, almost catching his face on a low hanging branch. He came face to face with a Meowth standing on two legs, and wondered if the pokemon belonged to someone.

"Oi!" The Meowth snapped, frowning at him.

"Oh . . ." Paul murmured, eyes wide.

"Twig?" Milo squeaked, glancing up at him.

"Talking Meowth." Paul swallowed. Maybe this was the Stantler?

"I know what yous thinkin'." The Meowth smirked at him. "Yous telling yourself 'I'm goin' nuts, there ain't no way dat Meowth is yapping at me!'"

Hit the nail right on the creepy little head.

"But see, I can talk!" The Meowth continued, as if Paul wasn't internally screaming in terror. "Name's Meowth, and I'm part of an awesome group called Team Rocket!"

Did he really want to risk answering the creepy Meowth and get the answer wrong?

" . . . Never heard of you." Mew dammit, Paul.

"Oh great, another oblivious twoip." Meowth muttered.

"Twoip?"

"He means twerp." A smooth voice behind Paul chuckled.

He spun around again to see a tall woman with pink, gravity defying hair smirking down at him with the most gleeful expression he'd ever seen. He noticed a snake-like pokemon, a Seviper, sidling up on his other side, while a man with blue hair and a small, content yet somehow creepy smile on his face, came up with a MimeJr on Paul's last unguarded side.

He felt Lepus tense on his head, and swallowed subtly. He hadn't even had his first Trainer battle, and he was going to be ganged up on by some weirdoes called Team Rocket?

"I'm getting a little sick of kids messing with us." The blue haired man said, still smiling. "I'm also starting to think that twerp's Pikachu doesn't like what we do for him."

"Oh, he just doesn't appreciate a good bargain when he sees it." The woman laughed evilly, sending shivers down Paul's spine.

"I'm coiten that if we use this twoip, we can get Pikachu in the bag!" Meowth said gleefully from behind him.

"Oh, I like that plan!" The woman giggled. "Seviper, Poison Tail, get the stupid brat's pokemon out of the way!"

"No, wait!" Paul cried. Too late. The large black snake slid forward with surprising speed, and its tail glowed a sickly purple.

Milo tried to leap out of the way, but the Seviper seemed to be so fast that Milo was caught, and got blown right back where he'd been before, at Paul's feet. Paul crouched down and picked up Milo, who was already whimpering. He'd been poisoned . . .

He felt Lepus jump off his head, and looked up to see Lepus standing off against the Seviper. What hope did one little Buneary have against something like that?

"L-Lepus, come back!" Paul tried to reach out, but Lepus shook him off and growled at the Seviper.

"You should have listened to the new twerp." The woman laughed, one hand on her hips. "Poison Tail, let's go!"

Lepus, despite being the fastest on Paul's team at the moment, couldn't dodge either. Paul winced and quickly returned both his poisoned pokemon, not wanting them to get hurt anymore for his sake. He stood up, clipping both balls to his belt, and tried not to flinch when the Seviper slid up close to him. It hissed and slashed its tail, still glowing, in the air.

"You can poison him when we find the first twerp." The woman cooed, patting the snake on the head.

Paul tried not to panic even more. These people were either stupid, insane, cruel, or all three. Paul guessed it was the last one. And what was he going to say to Reggie? His first day on his adventure, and Paul had ended up getting caught as a hostage by insane people after some Pikachu.

Paul suddenly felt something hit him in the back of his head, and then he saw and felt nothing.

**oooo**

When he came to, Paul noticed that he was bound, his hands tied behind his back, and forced into an awkward kneeling position. There was nothing else binding him but the Seviper from before, it's poison tipped tail pointed to his stomach, where it would do the most damage without possibly killing him. Paul knew enough about human anatomy to know that he'd be in a lot of pain and would suffer, but probably wouldn't die, from a Poison Tail to the stomach. But to the neck, he would have died instantly.

Well, at least they weren't killers, that was something.

The second thing he noticed was that there was no one in the large clearing he was now in, besides the pink haired woman, the Seviper, and a Dustox. The woman smirked at him again when she noticed he was awake, and showed him the pokeballs belonging to Milo and Lepus, both marked with small patterns thanks to one of Rowan's assistants, so Paul could always tell which balls belonged to who.

"Shame they've both fainted while you were sleeping." The woman hissed spitefully. Paul shrank away, but the Seviper hissed as well, and the tail pressed into him enough to stop him from moving, but not to hurt him.

Then he heard footsteps, and froze when he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh no!" He heard Dawn cry.

He looked up and saw the girl with her Piplup, running alongside two other people he sort of recognised. One was Brock Takeshi, the Gym Leader of Pewter city in Kanto, one of the youngest at nineteen. The second person was a fifteen year old with a Pikachu riding his shoulder, who both looked completely angry and stunned.

Meowth and the blue haired man were leading them.

"Who is he?" Brock demanded.

"Just some dumb kid we picked up." The blue haired man said airily. "You know, I've always wanted to be the host of a hostage situation. Now my dream has come true."

Yep, definitely insane.

"Don't worry, kid!" He heard the fifteen year old boy call. "We'll get you out of there, I swear!"

_But how?_ Paul wondered. He remembered that these Team Rocket guys were after a Pikachu, and since these guys were here, Paul guessed they were after this Pikachu.

"Let him go, please!" Dawn begged. "H-he has nothing to do with this!"

"Since when did we care about that?" The pink haired woman snorted.

"Yeah, Jessie's right!" Meowth cackled. The woman was called Jessie? Well, a pushy and princess-y name for a woman like her, perfect. "Team Rocket don't care 'bout what we do, we just do it!"

"That's correct, and now you know your side of the deal already!" The blue haired man shouted. "Hand over the Pikachu and the kid doesn't get poisoned."

It occurred to Paul that they might actually be bluffing, but the Seviper hissed again, and the look in its eyes told him they were kidding. This was real.

And Paul, for one, wished Reggie was here. But no, he was probably already down by Jubilife now, heading for the next city and then going to find the path they used to get from Veilstone to the lower parts of MT. Cornet.

"Don't be scared." The boy with the Pikachu said. "I said we'd get you out, and we will, ok?"

The boy reminded Paul of Reggie. He nodded, happy enough to have someone like his brother, and tried to stop himself from shaking so much.

"Oh, he'll only get out if you give us Pikachu." The blue haired man sneered. "Otherwise . . ."

He didn't need to finish his threat.

"Pika, pika!" The Pikachu snapped suddenly. Meowth looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but was refraining from doing so.

"Pikachu sez that we got no right to hold dis kid." The cat pokemon snorted.

"Well, we're crooks!" Jessie snapped. "We ignore rights and do the wrongs instead!"

Wow, they even admitted to being crooks.

"James, let's show these twerps we mean business." Jessie said, turning to her blue haired partner, who nodded.

"Carnivine, come out!" James called, throwing his own pokemon besides the MimeJr into the scene. The grass flytrap pokemon clomped onto his head, making even Paul, who was still terrified, stare.

"Oh for . . ." Jessie sighed.

James pulled the Carnivine off his head and almost threw it at Paul, where it loomed threateningly and hungrily over his own head.

"You've shown me enough love, now give him some!" James ordered. "Carnivine, Wrap that twerp!"

The three on the other side of the clearing shouted for him to stop, but it was too late, again.

Paul gave a strangled cry when the Carnivine's leaves and vines wrapped around him, lifting him with the pokemon. It squeezed and squeezed until Paul thought he would burst open, until the thing dropped him to the ground, where he landed in a painful heap, coughing. The Carnivine lifted him onto his knees and pulled its vines over him, just enough to touch him, but not enough to lift him into the air again. Seviper's tail went back to its place at his stomach.

"That was dirty!" The fifteen year old snapped.

"We never play clean." The three Rockets laughed.

"Chu, pika pika chu!" Pikachu cried.

"Pikachu says he doesn't want dis twoip hoit anymore." Meowth smiled. Jessie cooed mockingly.

"Then why don't you join us, and we can settle this little debate, hm?" She giggled.

Paul shook his head frantically at the older boy. He didn't know why, and he couldn't explain it, but Paul felt that giving up the Pikachu would be a really bad thing, especially if it were in the hands of these insane sadists. The older boy watched him with an expression that pretty must screamed 'what else do you want me to do'.

"Let him go first, and his pokemon." Brock called. Everyone, even Team Rocket, turned to look at him. He murmured something to the older boy and Dawn, who both sighed and nodded. Pikachu said something and hopped off the boy's shoulder.

"No, we want Pikachu first!" James barked. "Then we release the kid!"

"The kid first!" The older boy shouted back.

"Pika!" Pikachu snarled.

"No way!" Meowth scoffed. "We'd never do dat."

Paul guessed the pikachu had suggested they would probably not let him go if Pikachu went first. That was probably what they were thinking, as well. The Seviper seemed like it had been promised to hurt something other than pokemon, and the hungry look in both pokemon's eyes told Paul that he wouldn't get out of this without a few broken bones or something.

"Let him go!" Dawn called. Her Piplup cried out after her, probably copying her words. Paul had known a Prinplup who did that once, actually. It was taken away by its Trainer from the Daycare before Paul could play another game of Mimic with it, but he still had fun.

"Not until Pikachu comes over to us!" Jessie snapped.

This was going freaking nowhere. Paul shivered again when he felt the coldness of the Seviper's Poison Tail dab his stomach, as if the snake was getting impatient. At least the Carnivine was able to wait.

Ok, so, the whole lot of them were at a stalemate, Paul's only two pokemon had fainted because of the Seviper, and said Seviper was losing its mind waiting for the order to slash him.

Yep, he was scared.

"Ssssss." The pokemon hissed, as its master and the others kept arguing. It looked at Paul with that hungry stare, and he could feel Carnivine moving away slowly, as if it understood what was going to happen.

"SSssssssseeeeerrrrr." The Seviper hissed again, moving so it could look Paul right in the eyes. It smirked.

"Please don't hurt me." Paul whispered, trying not to stare into its eyes too much. It was hard with the thing literally right there. Seviper just gave him another evil hiss and leaned back, probably to watch the fun.

The poison tipped tail was still glowing, and now it was moving away slowly, as if the seviper was judging the distance between its tail and his stomach.

"Here!" Jessie barked, chucking Milo and Lepus's pokeballs at the others. Dawn quickly caught one while Brock got the other, and Paul felt a bit better now that they were both safe. "We don't need to keep those stupid things anyway!"

Paul opened his mouth to shout for someone to stop the Seviper from striking him, but it came down on him before he could.

Someone let out a blood chilling screech, and it faintly registered that it was his own that he'd heard. Even if the Poison Tail wasn't fatal, Paul knew it was going it hurt. He just didn't expect it to be this bad. Maybe it was the poison?

The next thing he knew, Paul was laying sideways on the grass, his arms untied now, and the poison still causing him a huge amount of pain. The fifteen year old was sitting over him, gently stroking his hair like how Reggie would when Paul was scared. The Pikachu was watching worriedly from next to the boy, and when Paul opened his eyes, both smiled softly.

"Hey." The boy murmured, though the voice was fuzzy and far away. "I said we'd get you out, didn't I?"

Paul had no idea what happened, but he assumed that Team Rocket was gone since they weren't making any fuss about Pikachu or something. Dawn and Brock seemed to have disappeared as well.

Suddenly the fifteen year old's appearance changed, and he grew even taller, grew long purple hair tied back messily, with deep purple eyes. The vision faded and the boy was back to his normal self, but it flickered occasionally.

"R-Re . . . Reggie . . .?" Paul whispered, and then coughed when his throat scratched him.

The boy shook his head. "I dunno who Reggie is, but my name's Ash Ketchum."

"Like . . . ketchup . . ."

The boy, Ash, smiled again. "Heh, yeah, ketchup."

He was aware he was shivering uncontrollably, though he didn't feel cold at all. He felt hot, actually, and was having a bit of trouble breathing the air. Ash continued stroking him, again reminding him of Reggie, and somehow that made Paul feel safer.

Then there was a flurry of voices, and suddenly Ash was gone, replaced by a pink haired woman in a nurse's dress. The pink hair reminded him of the woman, Jessie, and he squeaked, trying to get away from her.

Hands stopped him from moving. He recognised them from a few seconds ago (or was it minutes) and relaxed instantly. Ash was here, and he wouldn't be hurt. He could hear Dawn and Brock talking to someone in the background as well.

The world went black, but Paul was still awake.

"_What's wrong with his eyes? Why are they all milky?"_

"_He's blind."_

"_WHAT!?"_

"_Not permanently. I can get the poison out of him, don't worry. When it's out, all he'll need is a bit of rest and he'll be fine in two days."_

" _. . . Nurse . . .?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_He . . . said something weird. I think he called me someone . . . um, Reggie I think it was."_

" _. . . He was probably delusional at the time, don't worry. Reggie must be someone close to him."_

He's my brother. My big brother, my best friend, my . . . my protector . . . my brother. My . . . brother . . .

"_The poison's almost out. Ash, get that towel over there, we need to flush it out through his mouth."_

"_You're gonna make him vomit it out?"_

"_Yes."_

Ew. That sounded disgusting.

"_Is there anything I can do to help?" _

Is that Brock? Yes, it is.

"_Make sure he doesn't move anything but his head."_

"_I got the towel."_

"_Good, now put it here . . . that's it . . ."_

Stuff went into a blur again, and suddenly there was a taste of something foul and horrid in his mouth. He retched again, not sure if he had done before, and found more of the horrid stuff sliding out. Someone encouraged him, he wasn't sure who, and he did the same thing several more times until he felt nothing but empty sick coming up.

Paul blinked slowly, and he opened his eyes to light again. Dawn and Ash were peering at him, while the Nurse worked on the grass a couple of feet away with some sort of instrument that Paul didn't know. Brock was helping, though he looked like he was trying to kiss her for some reason.

"Hey." Ash murmured. "You ok?"

Paul tried to say yes, but the word came out weird, warped and sluggish. Dawn shushed him gently and, like a mother to her kid, murmured soothing words until he felt like he was fine again, albeit weak.

"He'll be fine." Nurse Joy told the group, ignoring Brock effortlessly and walking over to Paul. "We just need to get him back to the pokemon centre and he can rest there, alright?"

The group nodded, and Paul felt himself being picked up by someone. Either Brock or Ash, but since there was something sniffing him, Paul guessed it was Ash.

**oooo**

When Paul woke up, he fully expected to be back in the hostage situation and the whole thing some kind of day-mare. He didn't expect to wake up to a sort of cabin-like room with medical stuff, and a window overlooking the pretty sunset and the treetops.

Paul also didn't expect to see Milo and Lepus curled up together at the end of the bed. When his tired groan woke them, they both looked up instantly and squealed with delight.

"You're acting like I died." Paul murmured, faintly surprised that he wasn't having trouble speaking.

"You nearly did." A new voice said.

Paul blinked slowly and turned to the newcomer. It was the boy from before, but Paul had trouble remembering his name. Something to do with charred stuff . . .

"You remember my name?" The boy asked, sitting on the chair next to the bed. His Pikachu hopped off and started up a conversation with Milo and Lepus.

"Um . . ." Paul did not want to look like an idiot. No, he didn't.

"Come on." The boy gently coaxed him.

"Ash . . . Ketchup?" Paul tried.

The boy burst out laughing, and the Pikachu turned around at the mention of ketchup.

"Half right." The boy smiled, once he'd composed himself. "Ash Ketchum. Though it makes me wonder if you have selective memory."

"Why?"

"You remembered the bit about ketchup. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a ketchup nut like Pikachu." Ash said.

" . . . Can pokemon even have that stuff?"

"Dunno, but Pikachu constantly begs for it, so I'm guessing yes." Ash shrugged. "Anyway, I never got your name. Dawn said it was Paul, but I'm not sure if she's right or not."

"She is." Paul told him, nodding. "My full name's Paul Hartz."

"Hearts?"

"Yeah, H-A-R-T-Z."

Ash hummed. "Weird name, but I guess I don't have anything to say about that, do I?"

"Not really, Ash Ketchup." Paul said, smirking. Ash rolled his eyes.

"I'm never gonna hear the end of this." He muttered.

"Nope."

"Whatever. Anyway, Nurse Joy said that you need to stay here for a couple of days. We'll stay here as well, so don't worry." Ash told him.

"Um, thanks."

"What's wrong?"

"It just . . . feels weird, you don't even know me." Paul said, feeling a bit confused and strange. Maybe that was because of the poison . . .

"So? Doesn't mean I can't care or help you out." Ash said, shrugging almost carelessly. "I'm just that kind of person. Ask Brock or Dawn."

"Speaking of Dawn, how did you find her?" Paul asked him. "I was kind of aware she went, like, half a day ago to Jubilife."

"Team Rocket kinda stole Pikachu, as usual." Ash explained. "She found him when he'd gotten away, I think, and they chased her all the way to me and Brock. We got rid of them, and then they must have found you."

"They seemed a bit ticked off."

"Trust me, they're always ticked off. But never that vicious . . ." Ash trailed off, looking into the distance.

" . . . Maybe they were just really ticked off?"

"Yeah." Ash murmured. "Anyway, get some rest, Paul. Those two over there were really worried."

"Milo and Lepus." Paul supplied.

"Which one's which?"

"Milo's the Turtwig, Lepus is the Buneary."

"Cool. Get some rest."

Ash walked out of the room with Pikachu drooling, probably about the ketchup thing. Paul was left wondering whether or not he'd heard the name 'Ash Ketchum' before.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Ok, now we finally meet Ash and co.! I'll put all teams here depending on who's in the chapter, and . . .

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 5, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

**Buneary (Lepus) - Level: 4, Ability: Limber, Gender: Male, Nature: Hardy**

**Ash's team:**

**Pikachu - Level: ?, Ability: Static, Gender: Male, Nature: Brave**

**Aipom - Level: ?, Ability: Pickup, Gender: Male, Nature: Impish**

**Starly - Level: ?, Ability: Keen Eye, Gender: Male, Nature: Docile**

**Dawn's team:**

**Piplup - Level: 5, Ability: Torrent , Gender: Male, Nature: Adamant**

**Brock's team:**

**Bonsly - Level: ?, Ability: Sturdy , Gender: Male, Nature: Naïve**

Renny: I think that's it . . .

Green: You would know this how?

Renny: Hush, you. Read and review please!


	4. Chapter 4- Recovery

Renny: I like this fanfic, I really do.

Paul: I don't.

Renny: Get over it, plum boy.

Paul: . . .

Renny: Disclaimer!

Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

It was only two days later that Paul realised he'd come literally within inches of his own life.

According to the Nurse, and Ash, his eyes had gone a strange milky colour before Nurse Joy had gotten him to vomit out the poison. Brock, once he'd gotten over his 'love' for Joy (Paul seemed to be the only one who was creeped out besides the pokemon and Dawn), had explained that in a person's last few moments of life, they could lose all feeling and sense, and in this case, Paul lost his eyesight in his almost last moments.

So, basically, if Joy hadn't gotten him to vomit the stuff out, Paul would have been dead, and Reggie would have had to bury his body. And Paul didn't want to tell Reggie about his near-death experience, otherwise he'd be pulled out of his journey in seconds.

He was lucky no one suggested calling his brother, as he'd accidently called Ash that before Joy had gotten there. Milo had almost tried to do something that seemed like suggesting it, but Paul stopped him and quickly explained the situation. After that, both Milo and Lepus made an effort to try and stop anyone from remembering to call Paul's kin.

Even after realising he'd almost died, and then having to deal with the shock of it all, even after Ash told him, Paul wanted to get up and get going. For some reason he was convinced that Team Rocket weren't going to try anything on him.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?" Ash was asking, as Paul finally made his way out of the room he'd been confined to for ages.

"I'm sure." Paul told the older Trainer, looking up at him. The boy was somewhere over a head taller than Paul, but that was to be expected since he was a teenager. "Those guys seem to follow you around, and I don't . . . really wanna go near them again."

"Good choice." Brock chuckled. "We've been ambushed by them so many times I've lost count."

"I think it's well over the hundreds now." Ash sighed, following Paul carefully as they made their way through the halls. "But . . . still, this is the first time they've done something like this. Paul, I swear, even if they used hostages before, they never tried to kill someone. I'm really sorry."

"It was the Seviper getting impatient." Paul said again. It felt like he was defending the Rockets, but he was telling the truth, so it kind of dampened the feeling. "You don't need to apologise for it."

They got to the main lobby of the pokemon centre, where some other Trainers were chatting to Joy about their pokemon. There was a green haired guy with a Budew watching them with a soft smile on his face, which interested Paul a little. Why wasn't he healing his own pokemon? If he already had, he had no reason to be there.

As Ash and his friends went over to Joy to get their teams healed, Paul wondered over to the green haired man.

"Hi." He said, looking up at him. Sheesh, what was it with everyone being taller than Paul? If you didn't look twice, even Dawn would look bigger than him.

"Greetings, little one." The man mumbled, looking down at him.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing standing around for?" Paul asked him, ignoring the 'little one' comment.

"I am pondering." The green haired man said, looking over at something. At first Paul thought he was looking at a poster advertising a Gym somewhere, but then he realised the man wasn't really paying attention to anything.

"Uh, pondering what, exactly?"

"My future, my decisions." The man sighed.

"In what?"

"Battles. I am wondering if I should take the Gym challenge, or if I should take the Contest challenge instead." The green haired man murmured, looking down at Paul again. "I do so love to battle, yes, but I also love to participate in Contests and bring joy to many."

"Then why not do both?" Paul suggested.

"You can do that?"

"I think so. I'm gonna try doing both, anyway." Paul informed him carelessly. This man seemed to be the type not to judge on what a person wanted to do, since he was so indecisive himself.

"A strange but fitting choice." The man chuckled, smiling. "You seem as though you know Contests well."

"I watched them a lot. Mainly for the battles and styles and stuff, but I also liked seeing people move up in Contests." Paul said.

"And Gym battles?"

"They're rarely televised, but I watch them whenever I can so I can learn more about the types a Gym Leader uses." Paul explained. "Not as pretty as Contests, more along the lines of brute strength or strategy or something like that, but they're still really exciting."

"Hm . . . And you say you are planning to do both?"

"Well . . . I'm gonna try both and see which I like best, but if I like them both, then yeah." Paul told him, nodding slightly.

" . . . Then my mind is made up." The green haired man murmured, smiling softly. "I shall try both and see where the winds of destiny take me. Thank you for your help, little one."

Again, he said nothing about the 'little one' thing, but gave the man a small 'no problem' as he walked away with his Budew. Only when the green haired man was gone did Paul realise he'd never asked for his name, but somehow that didn't seem like it mattered to him. He'd just helped someone make an important decision, and he felt proud about it.

"Paul? What're you smiling about?" Dawn suddenly appeared beside him, her Piplup in her arms.

"Um, just thinking, that's all." Paul told her.

**oooo**

"See you!" Ash shouted, as he and his friends walked away.

"Bye!" Paul called back. "See you in Jubilife city!"

"Take care, and you to!"

Once the three were gone, Paul went back inside the pokemon centre. Joy smiled at him as he walked in, and he greeted her in equal kindness. She had, after all, saved his life.

"Paul, there was a man looking for you earlier." Joy informed him, as he sat down on the nearest table next to the counter. Paul looked up at her, confused. "On the video-phone. I told him to wait for a few more minutes until you came back, so could you go and call him? He seemed impatient."

Oh. Uh. That could be an issue, then.

"S-sure." Paul swallowed, not sure if he wanted to face his father nearly three days after being attacked and kidnapped.

The little boy got up anyway, ignoring a few stares he got when Lepus popped out of his ball and landed on Paul's head, as usual, and went up to the nearest video-phone. He already knew Brandon's number off by heart, so he just dialled it and waited for Brandon's face to appear.

"_Ah, finally." _Brandon sighed, as soon as his face appeared. "_I've been trying to reach you for hours. How's it going?"_

Before Paul could reply, the screen split, and Reggie appeared. He looked incredibly worried.

"_Paul!" _He cried. _"There was news of a kidnapping and an attempted murder in Route 202, are you alright!?"_

"_What!?" _Brandon's mouth gaped, his eyes wide.

"U-uh, well . . ." Paul tried not to sound like he'd had anything to do with it, but failed completely. He could have probably acted so much better in front of anyone but his own family.

"_What happened?" _Reggie demanded.

"Well, um . . . How did you even know about that in the first place?" Paul asked, trying to stall for time. Or to distract his brother so much he forgot about it all.

"_It was in the Hearthome newspaper." _Reggie said, looking suspicious. _"The eastern and southern parts of Sinnoh tend to bunch up their news together, you know. Just like how the northern and western does."_

"Unless it affects the whole region or it's really important." Paul corrected him. Reggie nodded.

"_Yeah, but whatever. What do you know about it? Apparently it happened nearly three days ago. That was when you went off."_

Like he didn't know.

"Um, uh . . ."

"_Paul, don't even try to lie to us." _Brandon said sternly. _"Tell the truth; were you involved?"_

" . . . Yeah."

"_How?" _Reggie asked softly. _"Did you save anyone, or . . .?"_

"I . . . I got kidnapped. And I nearly died." Paul said quietly.

"_Paul . . ."_

"B-but its ok, Ash, Dawn and Brock saved me!" Paul quickly tried to mend it up, though he wasn't sure what he was mending. "I swear, all I needed was rest, the poison didn't do much-"

"_POISON!?" _Reggie and Brandon shouted. Paul flinched

Mew dammit, Paul, learn to keep that stupid mouth of yours shut.

"Y-yeah . . . but Nurse Joy got it out, I'm fine now, see?" Paul said, waving his hands to try and emphasize his point.

"_That's not the problem. You got kidnapped and poisoned, and we didn't even know about it." _Reggie fretted.

"Do you _really_ think I'd tell you I nearly died?"

"_Well . . . no, not really."_

"Well then."

"_What was it like?"_

The question startled Paul and Reggie so much they almost froze on the spot forever. Paul stared at his father in disbelief, while Reggie looked completely shocked and angry.

"_Why would you even ask something like that!?" _He snapped. _"What sort of person wants to know what it's like to almost die?"_

"_I was curious, that's all!" _Brandon tried to defend himself. _"You both know I love legends and such, but no one knows what it's like to die, or almost die. I can't help myself, you know!"_

"_We know, but . . . try getting a bit of sensitivity before you ask that kinda stuff, Dad." _Reggie sighed.

"I'm not . . . that fussed really, just a bit weirded out that he even asked." Paul said, still watching his dad. "Um, well . . . dying . . . or, almost dying, it's kinda like having nothing and not gaining anything."

Reggie stopped glaring at Brandon in favour of staring blankly at Paul, who scrambled for the right words to describe nothingness.

"Uh . . . I guess . . . it's . . . this is hard to explain." Paul eventually sighed.

"_Take all the time you need." _Brandon said. Paul noticed him getting a small notebook and pen out, and swallowed again.

" . . . Oh, I got it!" Paul exclaimed, almost dislodging Lepus from his head in his excitement, earning a startled squeak in the process. "It's like losing all of your senses and feelings. Like you've become nothing, but you know you've still got a body. I didn't really go the whole way, I could still feel some things, and I could hear and maybe touch and stuff, but I couldn't see and I didn't really care much about anything. So . . . basically, it's like losing everything but keeping some stuff, but you don't care about it. I guess if you die then you lose all senses, or at least seconds before you die you do."

Brandon hummed thoughtfully as he jotted down Paul's words with surprising speed. He studied them for a few seconds, while Paul and Reggie waited for him to speak up.

"_Interesting." _The Brain murmured. _"So, almost dying is so close to actually dying, that you couldn't tell the difference, or you just didn't care?"_ Paul nodded. _"Very interesting . . . This is going to help with my research into the Distortion World myths, I can tell. Thank you, Paul. Alright, see you, kids."_

The screen became single again, with just a slightly bewildered Reggie left staring at Paul with something akin to awe and maybe astonishment.

"_In other words, I think you probably died and came back." _Reggie whispered. _"Amazing . . . but I'm still worried, Paul!"_

The boy sighed. "I know you are, bro."

"_Within one day, in fact it wasn't even that, you almost got yourself killed!"_

"Technically it wasn't my fault; they just appeared out of pretty much nowhere."

"_I don't care. I should have stayed with you." _Reggie muttered.

Ah, so Reggie was angry because he felt guilty. He felt like he'd let someone, probably Paul, down.

"Reggie, even if you'd have been with me, would it have made any difference?" Paul asked. He hated being bluntly honest sometimes, but people needed it a lot. "You had Bibarel with you, no one else. Those guys had like, four pokemon, five if you include the talking Meowth."

"_Talking what?"_

"It wasn't me being delusional; ask anyone who was there, the talking Meowth was real." Paul said flatly. "But still, one pokemon, no matter how strong, couldn't take on that many pokemon and win. It would have happened either way."

"_We would have been in the van, they couldn't attack us in the van!" _Reggie cried desperately.

"They would have. These guys, Team Rocket, they even openly called themselves crooks. They've proved they'll do anything to get their target, so I don't think a bit of metal would stop them."

Reggie sighed. _"Yeah . . . I guess so. Sorry about all that."_

"It's fine, you were just worried, that's all." Paul shrugged. "But you do overdo it sometimes, Reggie."

His older brother laughed, embarrassed. _"That I do. But, Paul . . . you know why I worry."_

Paul's mood went downhill again. He looked at the floor, suddenly wishing Reggie was actually here instead of on a video-phone screen.

" _. . . Hey, it wasn't your fault." _Reggie whispered softly. _"Stop blaming yourself."_

"I . . . I try not to." Paul told him quietly. "But . . . it's just so hard!"

"_She wouldn't want us to blame ourselves." _Reggie mumbled. A few seconds passed, in which Paul sighed and finally said his line.

"She'd want us to carry on with life." Paul said.

"And make the best of our time." Both finished. They'd said this so many times both remembered it without the other having to say anything but the first line or second line, depending on who needed cheering up. Normally it was Paul.

He had witnessed it, after all.

"_Paul, promise me you'll be careful, ok?" _Reggie begged. _"Please."_

"I swear," Paul told him. "I'll try and keep myself safe, but isn't it the job of a Trainer to do dangerous stuff?"

"_Exploring and all that, yeah, but not almost dying. Paul, just . . . look out for people who would kill you given the chance, and don't give them the opportunity, ok?"_

"Yes, Reggie."

"_Alright. Now . . . I'm gonna hit the road again, ok? If I see you before you get to Veilstone, we can hang about for a day or something." _Reggie said.

Paul nodded. "Bye, bro."

"_See you, bro."_

The screen went black, and Paul switched it off completely. Lepus, who had been almost forgotten on his head, poked Paul in the forehead with so much force he flinched and almost fell over. Strong Buneary, seriously . . .

"Sorry, sorry." Paul murmured. "You want food or something?"

"Buuuun!" Lepus whined, nodding.

"'Kay then, I'll go and get something for us, and Milo too."

**oooo**

Once Joy gave him permission to actually step outside and walk around, and without company as well, Paul immediately asked when he was going to be able to leave. Joy had replied that he could go anytime he wanted, so Paul got himself and his pokemon come breakfast before leaving.

"So, what I'm trying to say is that we need to train for the Contest and the Gym." Paul explained. "Mainly the Contest since it's in, uh, a week or so, and it should take us . . . um . . . four days to get to Jubilife."

"Twig, turt?" Milo said, blinking, looking up from his food.

"Still don't speak pokemon." Paul muttered. "Sheesh, those Professor people should hurry the heck up and invent a translator or something, you know?"

Milo nodded. Whether he was agreeing to practise for the Contest or about the translator Paul didn't know, but it was more or less consent. Lepus had already agreed to do the contest anyway, so really they'd be doing it no matter what. Two against one doesn't really go for much, anyway.

"Anyway, we should try figuring out which moves would be good for Appeals and attack-Appeals." Paul said. "And also which of you is best at either one, as well, though you both look like you'd probably go for both . . ."

"Bun-bun!" Lepus cried.

"Hey, maybe we could try spinning or something? Obviously it won't work for Milo if he evolves, but it sounds like a good start." Paul suggested lightly.

Both pokemon nodded. And so, when they'd finished their food, Paul bid farewell to the Nurse and went out into the forest to make his way to Jubilife, while practising for the contest along the way.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: Not as many words as the last chapter, or the other ones, but it's got almost as much content.

Green: It feels weird not being in this . . .

Renny: Oh, I know! Maybe you could play a pokemon Ranger.

Green: . . . Maybe.

Renny: Heh, anyway!

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 5, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

**Buneary (Lepus) - Level: 4, Ability: Limber, Gender: Male, Nature: Hardy**

**Ash's team:**

**Pikachu - Level: ?, Ability: Static, Gender: Male, Nature: Brave**

**Aipom - Level: ?, Ability: Pickup, Gender: Male, Nature: Impish**

**Starly - Level: ?, Ability: Keen Eye, Gender: Male, Nature: Docile**

**Dawn's team:**

**Piplup - Level: 5, Ability: Torrent , Gender: Male, Nature: Adamant**

**Brock's team:**

**Bonsly - Level: ?, Ability: Sturdy , Gender: Male, Nature: Naïve**

Renny: Someone suggested giving Ash a legendry pokemon, but I don't think that I should, so I'm just gonna think of a rare one that's not seen in the wild or is seen rarely in the wild. Any suggestions, anyone?

Green: You could give him Shaymin.

Renny: *laughs* Hah! Yeah, no. I like Shaymin's Sky Forme and all, but it is actually a bit weak if you think about it.

Green: Good point.

Renny: Anyway, read and review!


	5. Chapter 5- The Rival Shows His Face

Renny: . . .

Green: What's up with you?

Renny: I had a bad day.

Paul: Don't care.

Renny: I WILL CUT YOU.

Paul: Uh-huh.

Renny: Red, do the disclaimer, now.

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

"Twig."

"Ok, fine, so the shortcut wasn't the best idea."

"Tur, twig. Turtwig."

" . . . From that look you're giving me, I'd guess you're saying it's my fault?"

A nod from the little grass type. Paul sighed, looking around at the massive forest. The small lake with the waterfall was behind him, and so was the massive cliff he and Milo had just fallen from. Almost unharmed of course, though Paul could tell that Milo was having trouble looking around, he was probably dizzy, and the boy's own right leg was throbbing a bit as well.

"We should find a way out of this place." Paul muttered, bringing out his pokedex and bringing up the map option. Milo muttered something and hopped onto his shoulder to peer at it.

"Twig? Turtwig, wig turt." Milo muttered, using a foot to point at their current location, which was a small red dot in the middle of a bunch of green shrubs on the map.

"Maybe I could tap it and zoom in?" Paul suggested. He felt Milo shrug, and carefully tapped the screen.

Nothing happened.

"Oh well, worth a shot." Paul sighed. He put the pokedex away, since it was pretty much useless right now, and looked at the forest lying ahead.

"Twig. Turt turt turt wig twig." Milo said.

"I still need a translator." Paul muttered. He blinked, remembering something Reggie had told him a few weeks ago. "Hey, Jubilife has that Poketch place, right?"

Milo nodded.

"So . . . if they can make stuff like that, maybe they have a translator or something?" Paul wondered. "Like an earpiece or something?"

Milo shrugged again. Paul was beginning to think that maybe it could work, but only if the Poketch people were either making one, or if they listened to suggestion. Then again, they were the Poketch Company for a reason- they made the Poketchs, and basically nothing else. Maybe he could call in a favour from his dad or something . . .

But no. Paul didn't want to feel like he was using his own father's status to get what he wanted, if he was going to pull out the status card, it was going to be his own, not a relative's. Especially Brandon. He'd probably kill Paul for trying anyway. Maybe he'd get lucky?

"Anyway, we don't know where we are because of that crazy-strong Gust . . ." Paul muttered, almost shivering as he remembered the incredibly angry Starly that had attacked them for no reason at all. The thing had used Gust and had blown them all the way down to this place. "I've heard of a place called Bewilder Forest, but . . . well, this can't be the same place, otherwise we'd be seeing Stantler by now."

Milo bumped his head against Paul's, and said nothing. Paul sighed again, wondering just how long it was going to take to get out of this forest, and then started off towards the trees.

After only a few minutes of walking, Paul noticed that the forest was devoid of any life besides himself, Milo, and of course the plants. He heard nothing but the occasional swish of the trees in the wind, and the soft stomping of himself as he walked along, trying to be as brave as possible. It was very easy to get freaked out in places like this, anyway.

"Twig." Milo muttered, a while later. Startled by the sudden noise, Paul almost froze, but managed to keep up his pace.

" . . . Maybe this is Bewilder Forest?" The ten year old asked. "I mean, it's certainly bewildering me."

Milo groaned at the pun.

"You seriously don't know what this place is?" A harsh voice scoffed.

Paul held back a squeak of terror when a boy- probably fifteen or something given his face and height- appeared from behind one of the many trees. He had dirty blond hair, wore some sort of hiker's outfit that consisted on black trousers, grey boots, a deep brown unzipped shirt that was kind of like Brock's, and a black t-shirt underneath it. A brown backpack was on his back.

"Um. Hi." Paul blinked, swallowing his surprise at seeing another person. "Uh . . ."

"_Andy!" _

What the-

Paul allowed himself to look shocked this time as Ash, along with Pikachu and, strangely enough, a Turtwig, came rushing through the bushes after the fifteen year old hiker person. The hiker boy seemed to hate Ash, by the way he was scowling at him, though Paul couldn't see why. Ash was nice.

"Andy, where are you g- Oh, hi Paul!" Ash grinned, noticing Paul a couple of feet away.

"Uh, hi, Ash." Paul blinked. "Who's Andy?"

"That would be me, you stupid kid." The hiker boy snarled.

Paul stared at him. He turned to Ash. "Why are you here?"

Andy barked something about not wanting to be ignored, but Paul, you guessed it, ignored him. Irony at its best, people.

"Team Rocket kinda smashed us both off the cliff a couple of hours ago." Ash chuckled. "After Pikachu again."

Paul shivered subtly at the mention of the people who owned the seviper that almost killed him, and Ash's look turned a bit more sympathetic.

"They're gone now." He said gently. "I think Dawn and Brock chased them off."

"Ok, are you done babying the kid?" Andy snapped. "I have places to be."

"He's coming with us." Ash said firmly, facing the hiker boy. Andy actually looked surprised.

"What? No, I've had enough with you!" He cried, looking like he was going to start having a tantrum any second.

"We're sticking together because of the Stantler, the least we could do is help Paul out as well." Ash snapped back.

"No! This is no place for a tiny kid like he is!" Andy shouted, pointing at Paul. "He's, what, nine? Eight?"

"Ten." Paul corrected him, frowning. He didn't like Andy at all.

"Don't care." Andy helpfully informed him. "He shouldn't even be here in the first place!"

"A Starly got mad and Gusted us in." Paul explained.

"Don't. Care."

Yep, he so didn't like Andy.

"Look, I don't care what you say, he needs as much help as we do." Ash said. "I've seen the Nurse back at the half-way pokemon centre check out his pokemon, they might not have been with him for long, but they're both pretty good."

"What does he have then? A baby Turtwig and a tiny little Bidoof?"

What.

No.

Just.

No.

Paul glared at the older trainer. "Hey, don't insult the Bidoofs!" He snapped. "My brother's got a Bibarel and it's one of the best pokemon he has!"

"You're brother's pretty damn weak then." Andy scoffed.

"He's won every single Gym Badge and Battle Frontier Symbol from Kanto to Sinnoh." Paul said, crossing his arms.

"W-wow . . ." Ash swallowed. "That's . . . that's not an easy feat! How good is he, and how come I've never heard of him?"

"The brat's making it all up." Andy muttered. "Fine then, but if the kid gets in my way, I'll set Chimchar on him."

"He's got a Chimchar?" Paul asked, as they started off. Andy led the way, muttering words Paul didn't even want to hear.

"Yeah." Ash said, glaring at Andy for a split second before looking back down at Paul. "We're not sure how he got it, but from what I've seen . . . Chimchar isn't in very good hands at all."

" . . . He abuses his pokemon?" Paul gasped.

"Mm." Ash nodded sadly.

"Oi, you two! Stop fucking around over there and get moving." Andy snapped suddenly.

"Language!" Ash barked. "There's a kid here, you jerk."

"So?"

"Um . . . what does 'fucking' mean?" Paul asked, looking confused. He honestly had no idea there was even a word such as that.

" . . . Nevermind." Ash sighed. He exchanged a glance with Pikachu. "Just . . . don't ever repeat it, ok? Not even if someone tries to force you to."

Paul's eyes widened, and he nodded quickly. If the word was that bad, he had no reason to be saying it. Most likely Reggie knew it as well, since he was an adult. Kind of. Young adult? Probably.

Minutes later, and they still hadn't made much progress. When Paul heard the sound of rushing water, he was confused again. Was it the same waterfall, or was it a different one, making it seem like the small group was in a bowl of some kind? Milo seemed a bit confused as well, and since the Turtwig had a better sense of direction than Paul did, the boy came to the conclusion that they were lost.

Bewilder Forest, indeed.

"This place _again_?" He heard Andy exclaim in anger from up ahead. Paul and Ash exchanged glances and then rushed forward, their pokemon at their heels, to find the blond haired hiker boy.

The exact same waterfall that Paul had left somewhere over an hour ago was standing right in front of them.

" . . . This is like the fifth time." Ash sighed. "I kinda hoped having someone else would stop the Stantler from using their tricks, but . . ."

"Wait, we were tricked?" Paul almost squeaked. "By the Stantler?"

"Get a grip, brat." Andy snapped. "The Stantler around here make it seem like we're going the right way, but then they get rid of their illusion when we end up near enough to this place. This would be so much easier if I could actually find the stupid things."

_Don't insult the Stantler. _Paul wanted to say. But given how much Andy had listened to him before, he doubted he'd get much of a reaction past 'shut up'.

"This doesn't look promising." Ash sighed, looking around the waterfall. "Dawn and Brock are maybe on the other side by now, and we're still stuck here, trying to find our way out!"

"It would help if this place had a map." Paul added.

"They can't map this place because of the Stantler, genius." Andy scoffed. "Grow a brain, and grow up will you?"

"Leave him alone." Ash told the hiker boy.

Tired of the two bickering already, despite only being with them for a little while, Paul walked back to the forest. He stopped when he got to the edge of it, and glanced back at Ash and Andy, who were arguing again. Pikachu noticed Paul and hopped over, standing next to Milo, and Ash's Turtwig. The three seemed to ask what Paul was doing.

"Maybe if we ask nicely, the Stantler will let us pass." Paul shrugged. It was worth a try, anyway.

"Ka? Pikachu!" Ash's pokemon cried happily, nodding. Milo smiled as well.

"Twiiig!"

Feeling encouraged, Paul turned back to the forest edge, and peered carefully into the trees. He could see the faint glow of something white, almost unnoticeable if you weren't looking for it. A Stantler's horns, obviously. Now that he was looking, Paul saw more of them, but incredibly faint. Had the normal types been following the small group around since they got to Bewilder Forest?

"Hello!" Paul called softly, being careful not to scare the pokemon. "Are there any Stantler in there, or is this another illusion?"

Hey, it could happen!

"Paul, what are doing?" He heard Ash ask. Paul quickly shushed him, and carried on watching the trees.

After a few silent seconds, in which Paul made sure he looked as friendly and patient as possible, a couple of Stantler padded out from the forest. They both stopped a few feet in front of him, and stared with caution.

"P-Paul, get away, quick!" Ash exclaimed.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu called to his trainer. Ash stopped making sound, but Paul paid no attention to what was going on behind him.

"Hello." Paul greeted the two . . . messengers or something he supposed.

"Stant." The smaller of the two nodded. The larger glanced down at it for a split second before doing the same.

"Hi. Um, is this what's known as the Bewilder Forest?" Paul asked. He already knew it was, but it was good to ask, right?

The two stantler nodded.

"Ok, thanks. See, the six of us kinda got stuck down here by accident." Paul explained. "Ash, Pikachu, Turtwig and Andy were forced down here, I think, and me and Milo were blown down by a really mad Starly. We're really sorry about trespassing."

"I'm not." Andy muttered.

"Shut it." Ash hissed.

"We've been trying to find the way out, but we haven't had any luck because you keep turning us back, right?" Paul smiled slightly, watching the two Stantler.

"Ler." The larger of the two nodded. They seemed more relaxed now that they knew he wasn't going to attack, but they weren't still trusting of him.

"Right. So, I know you don't like us being here, but turning us all back over and over won't really help get rid of us. I doubt any of us can climb back up the cliff." Paul went on. "So . . . if you could, maybe we could just pass on without any illusions, and we'll be out of this place without any hassle, ok?"

The two seemed to consider it. They muttered something to each other and then dashed back to the trees, where they started conversing with their friends. Paul heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see Ash walking up, with Pikachu and Turtwig next to him.

"Hah, wish I'd thought of asking nicely." Ash was smiling, looking proud. "Nice job, kid."

"T-thanks." Paul laughed, embarrassed at the praise.

"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu grinned up at him.

"Hmph. The brat could have done it earlier." Andy said, coming up next to them. "I could have done that as well."

"Then why didn't you." Paul asked flatly.

Andy spluttered for a second before resorting to glaring at Paul. "Because I didn't fu-"

"_Andy if you swear again I'll get my Charizard from Kanto and have him Flamethrower you."_

Andy shut up, though he looked incredibly irritated. Paul blinked. He didn't know Ash had a Charizard. Was it strong? Probably, most of those were. But if Ash had one, why wasn't it with him right now? As far as Paul knew, he only had Pikachu, Aipom, Starly and Turtwig.

"You have a Charizard?" Paul asked quickly. "Where is he?"

"Training in Charizard Valley." Ash explained. "But I promised him I'd get him back for this League, so you might see him at some point."

"Cool!"

Ash chuckled, and then looked behind Paul. Paul turned around and saw four Stantler this time, the two leading being the same ones who had spoken to him before, trotting up to the small group.

"Stantler." The lead Stantler smiled. It nodded, which Paul took as a 'yes' to allowing them passage.

"We can go through?" Ash asked.

The Stantler nodded again, and stepped aside. The other three did the same so that there were two on each side, which was probably their way of saying 'go ahead'. So the group, though Andy grumbled and complained until Milo bit his leg, started off. The four Stantler turned out to be a guard of some sort, with two at the front, leading the way, and the other two at the back as lookouts.

"Good job." Ash said.

"You already, um, thanked me." Paul murmured.

"I know, but I still feel like I owe you."

"You don't, really!"

"Heh, aww, you're blushing!"

"No I'm not!"

Ash just laughed.

The end of the forest came quickly. The four Stantler guards stopped and waited for the group to be out before calling out, most likely saying goodbye. Paul turned around and waved until they had gone, and thanked them just before they left.

"Staaaant!" A couple of them called back. They all galloped away, and then they were gone.

"Welp, now to find Dawn and Brock." Ash declared.

" . . . I should have caught one." Andy muttered. "Those things would have been great in battle."

"Illusions are only good when there's more than one." Paul told him. "That way the Stantler don't have to worry about the illusion looking too fake or something, because they have friends to back them up. Just taking one wouldn't really be good."

Andy scowled and turned around, beginning to walk off. Paul puffed out his cheeks, glaring again, but was stopped from going up and hitting the idiot in the face or something. Ash put a hand on his shoulder and laughed gently, patting him.

"Ignore him." The older trainer advised.

"But . . . you didn't." Paul pointed out.

Ash almost fell over in his exasperation, but sighed instead. "I know, but . . . he has a way of getting to you. You can't tell him anything."

"Why not? And how come he's so mean to us and his pokemon?"

"No idea. I just kinda met him when Team Rocket had stolen Pikachu." Ash said. "He wanted a three-on-three, but I only had Aipom and Starly at the time."

"Oh. So, where'd Turtwig come from?"

"He was wild, but really nice and responsible. Kinda." Ash laughed, rubbing his head.

"Ash!"

Paul turned and saw Dawn, Piplup and Brock, who was holding a Bonsly in his arms, running up to them. They stopped in front of the now fivesome, and blinked at Paul, looking a bit confused.

"How did he get here?" Brock asked.

"He said he got blown down by a mad Starly." Ash chuckled, smirking.

"Hey, that thing was really mad. No idea why. I think we woke it up." Paul said, holding up his hands in his defence. Milo nodded sagely. "It seems we find all powerful pokemon that way, as well . . . Though we didn't catch this one, did we?" Milo shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.

"You know Lepus?"

They nodded.

"Yeah . . . I kinda woke him up, and he went berserk." Paul shuddered, thinking of the battle they had to go through to catch Lepus. "He . . . was evil, that's all I'm saying."

"What?" Ash laughed. "No, not him. He was so nice! Helped out with looking after Bonsly and everything."

"Trust me, he can be evil when he wants to be. You didn't see what he did to the Bidoof for stealing his food yesterday." Paul said, cringing.

That seemed to convince them.

**oooo**

Brock offered Paul some late dinner, since it was well past midday by now. After thanking the amazing cook/breeder, and helping with the dishes and such, Paul set off with Milo on his shoulder and Lepus bouncing along beside them.

They were having a one-sided, at least on Paul's account, discussion about what to do about the Contest. While he had got some sort of thing worked out, a lot of spamming Pound while looking fancy, hopefully using the Ice Beam move that they'd discovered Lepus could use yesterday, and a bit of spinning as well, Paul needed to work out something which would go with it greatly.

"Well, you seem to know Attract as well." Paul murmured, going through Lepus's moves on the pokedex. "Is that . . . I think that one's Bounce . . . Huh . . . Spinning while using Bounce and Ice Beam should be a good combination, right?"

"Twig!" Milo nodded.

"Buuuuun!" Lepus cried out, hopping high enough to look at the pokedex. He caught onto Paul's arm and hung there for a second or two, and then dropped off to go back to bouncing.

" . . . Why is this so hard?" Paul finally sighed, stopping. He sat down on the ground and felt Milo slide off his shoulder and onto his lap, while Lepus hopped onto his knee.

"Turt." Milo said, tapping him.

Paul looked up. "I kinda wish I didn't decide to do Contests and Gym battles . . . It's hard enough trying to figure out how to get three pokemon for the Gym, but it's harder still to find out how to do the Performance round . . ."

"Bu-un neary buneeeary, bu-un neary buneeee-e-e!" Lepus suddenly cried.

Paul blinked. "Repeat that." He requested, interested.

Lepus did as he was told, happily repeating the words.

That . . . sounded like . . . a song?

"You . . . wanna sing?" Paul asked.

"Bun!" Lepus shook his head. He pointed at Paul and repeated the same words in the same way.

"You want me to sing?" Paul gasped. "But- but I don't sing! Guys!"

"Turtwig." Milo looked as determined as Lepus did. Paul sighed again.

"Well . . . I can certainly try . . . what song was that you were singing?"

"Bun bun neary." Lepus said.

" . . . Yep, defiantly need a translator. Ok, how about I just list songs like that, and you stop me when we get to the one you were singing?"

About five minutes of thinking up and listing songs later, Lepus finally nodded at one. Apparently he'd been singing a bit from a song called 'One More Night'. It was a popular song, and Paul . . . well, he had sung it once or twice for fun . . .

"Alright then. Now all we need is a dance routine and a bit of practise." Paul said.

"Buuuuuuuuuneary!" Lepus cheered.

**OOOOOO**

Paul: . . . You're making me sing.

Renny: Yep.

Paul: In front of hundreds of people.

Renny: Yup.

Paul: WHY.

Renny: Oh come you, you can battle in front of people but not sing?

Paul: I know I can battle, I just don't know if I can sing!

Renny: You can sing if this fanfic author wants it. And I say, little ten year boy, you can sing.

Paul: I. Am. Fourteen.

Renny: Not right now, Tiny. Anyway, we meet the rival that replaces Paul, and also where Ash gets Chimchar from! And now Paul has a strategy for the Performance round of the Contest. I know what to do with the Battle round, don't worry.

Dawn: Awwww! He's gonna look adorable!

Paul: . . . Why me.

Green: I'm just glad I'm not in this . . .

Renny: Watch that mouth. You might get what you don't wish for!

Green: . . . I wanna be in this.

Renny: You may also get what you wish for.

Green: OH COME ON.

Renny: Heh. Read and review!


	6. Chapter 6- The Jubilife Contest Part 1

Renny: The Contest starts either this chapter or the next, I'm not entirely sure. But anyway, I'm pretty sure I haven't revealed to any other characters what Paul's gonna be doing as a Trainer, so I'll try and give the whole lot of them a good reaction.

Paul: . . . I still can't believe you're making me do this . . .

Renny: It was either Contests or being constantly beaten in Gym battles. You know Contests are useful, because they teach you different ways of using moves, and dodging right?

Paul: Shut it.

Renny: Just sayin'. Anyway, since it's completely stupid, I'll have Jessilina just be Jessie with a different outfit on, and the cast actually knowing it's her, but not wanting to spoil her fun. She will also be better than using herself as a conductor for the moves.

Green: Anything else, or are we going into another rant?

Renny: I got rid of that, shut it. Anyway, in this chapter, I can guarantee something! We meet Zoey. I'm looking forward to writing this actually.

Paul: She yelled at me.

Renny: And now she's your friend, get over it. Anyway, since it's the sixth chapter, this means its Green's disclaimer time!

Green: *sighs* Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

Green: Hey, how come Paul doesn't do this? I mean, he's the main character for crying out loud!

Renny: Because. Now, as I said before, ON WITH THE SHOW!

Green: Ack!

**OOOOOO**

While they'd been practising Lepus's moves for the Performance round in the Contest, they'd been so busy that no one had noticed a red haired girl watching them.

Paul decided to run through the entire thing once more, and then when it had finished, he let out a sigh of relief. While he did sort of enjoy singing, only alone or with his brother of course, it was freakishly exhausting when he was basically doing dancing along with trying to work out timing with Lepus's Attract and Ice Beam moves.

It also didn't help that Milo was trying to give directions at the same time, but it was Milo's fault. Paul assigned the Turtwig to direction duty until it was the grass types' own turn to practise, as his needed less work since it was basically a battle, and so far he'd been able to correct Lepus's, and by extension Paul's, timing with the first part of the song.

After they'd finished practising again for at least the fifth time that day, as the Contest was about two days away from starting, the girl finally came out.

"Hey there, kid." The girl, who was taller than Paul but most likely only a few months older, suddenly announced.

Paul gave a small squawk of shock and almost fell over, but quickly righted himself and resorted to staring at the girl blankly.

"The name's Zoey." She said, holding out a hand. Paul blinked, and then shook it quickly.

"Um, my name's Paul . . ." He said.

"Cool." The girl, Zoey, said, letting go of his hand. "I watched you practise for a while, you know."

"I, uh, actually didn't. Is that normal, or is this just you?"

The girl finally cracked a grin, and laughed. "I like you. You're funny. But no, I was just seeing if you were a beginner or not."

"I'm a . . . beginner." Paul said, not wanting to reveal the fact that most moves had been copied and modified from the TV Contests he'd seen. Which had all been professional. No, he wasn't joking.

"Could have fooled me." Zoey smiled at him. "You looked like someone who knows what he's doing, so I was curious. If you're just a beginner, with no Ribbons as of yet, how come your Buneary's moves are so good?"

"Um . . ."

"Ah, it's ok if you don't wanna spill the beans." Zoey laughed. "Not many do, they think I'm trying to steal their ideas. I'm not though, so . . . Anyway, I liked the moves, but I noticed the timing with your singing . . . it's a bit off, isn't it?"

"We've been working on it, but I keep singing to fast, or sometimes it's Lepus who goes too fast." Paul told her, glad to finally get out of the awkward stuff. Maybe she could help? He did need a bit of human help, and this Zoey girl seemed to know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I've seen that." Zoey nodded. She crouched down and looked at Lepus carefully. The Buneary, in turn, smiled at her pleasantly. "He seems really strong, but where'd you get him from? You couldn't have travelled all the way from Eterna and back in . . . how many days?"

"I started a bit under a week ago." Paul informed her. Zoey stood up, looking shocked.

"But- that means . . . you're not just a beginner Coordinator, you're a beginner in everything!"

"Uh."

" . . . So, wait, where'd you get him from anyway?" Zoey asked.

"Here, actually."

" . . . What."

"That was the same reaction my brother had."

"Ok, so, migrating Buneary. I've seen weirder." Zoey sighed, putting a hand on her forehead. She looked up again. "So, you've had both for . . . how long?"

"Five days, maybe less? I wasn't keeping track, to be honest." Paul shrugged.

"And you're this good already how?"

" . . . I . . . I watched Contests on TV." Paul finally admitted. "The- the professional ones that is. It also helps that Lepus is kinda humanoid."

" . . . So, basically, you're halfway to becoming a really awesome Coordinator. Huh." Zoey blinked. "But still, you're only issue is basically timing. And also, that Attract and Ice Beam . . . what are you trying to do with them?"

"Freeze the hearts on the 'die' part, but Lepus can't freeze the hearts because they keep floating away too quickly, and I always screw up the timing as well." Paul sighed. Lepus made a sound that sounded like he was depressed as well.

" . . . I've got a Misdreavus and a Glameow who could help with combination moves, you know." Zoey told him.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. While Glameow can't learn any ice attacks, she does know Attract, so instead of freezing his own, why don't we try freezing Glameow's first, then see if we can work something out from there?" Zoey suggested.

"Really? You'd do that?" Paul asked, somewhat in shock. Did Coordinators help each other out all the time?

"Sure! Others might not see it as helping, but I like to think that if I try my best and help others, it'll help me as well." Zoey explained.

Well, that was one way of looking at it.

**oooo**

When their session had finally finished, after at least five hours without any breaks (mainly because Lepus wanted to get the freezing hearts thing down without a problem), Lepus had finally managed to get the freezing hearts perfected. Because of Zoey's Glameow, he'd gotten to practise without exerting himself, and when he finally got to using his own Attract for the hearts, it was almost as easy.

Then came the timing. Now he knew that Zoey was watching, Paul did incredibly badly and messed up several times, which led to being scolded by Zoey, who he found had one Ribbon under her name, and thus made her more experienced in performance stuff. He listened carefully to her advice about his own nerves, nevermind the pokemon's since they didn't care and just wanted to show off, and finally came up with a good tactic- pretend he was practising, but do it perfectly, with no one watching.

It took a few tries to do with even Zoey being totally silent for him to try it, but he finally did it, and when Zoey said he even got the timing right, he decided to try and do the same thing with a bit of background noise.

By now, some wild pokemon had come over into the clearing to watch what they were doing, and Glameow, along with Milo for help, went over to try and convince the wilds to act as though they were a Contest crowd. Being wild pokemon, none knew what the term meant, so Glameow was forced to explain. While Paul couldn't understand pokemon, though he wished he could, he knew this from their expressions.

After a bit of translating, mainly done by Glameow as Milo hadn't competed in a Contest as of yet, the wild pokemon along with a few more who Paul hadn't seen came over to crowd around and act as though they were people in a Contest, watching the performance.

Just like with Zoey, it took a lot of tries before Paul got the whole 'pretend it's a practise' thing again, and the same results came when he last got it.

When they all finally noticed the time, Paul and Zoey made a dash towards Jubilife city, returning their pokemon. The Contest only being a day away, Paul wanted to register as soon as he could, and Zoey wanted him to get into the Contest as well because she didn't want to have wasted several hours of helping him out, only to have the whole thing thrown away because he was late.

Paul stumbled into the pokemon centre, where Nurse Joy was currently registering a couple of other new coordinators. He waited for a few seconds with Zoey at his side, and quickly got out his pokedex when he realised what the two trainer's in front of him were doing as well. They finally went, and he walked up to the desk.

"First timer for a Contest, hm?" Nurse Joy smiled gently. "We get a lot of those here. Is it both of you?"

"Just him." Zoey informed the woman.

Joy instructed Paul on what to do, 'just put the pokedex inside the slot and I'll sort out the rest', and when it was done, Paul pulled his pokedex out and took his Contest Pass with a quiet 'thank you' to Nurse Joy.

"Good luck!" Joy called as they left.

"She's nice." Paul commented. "Nothing like the one in my hometown."

"Where are you from? I don't believe I asked before." Zoey said.

"Veilstone. And you?"

"Snowpoint city." Zoey grinned. "It's really _cool_ up there."

" . . . You just made an ice pun didn't you."

"Not my fault if you don't_ snow_ it when you hear it." Zoey giggled, smirking.

Paul sighed, but laughed a little. However cheesy, the jokes were somehow funny, and he could see they meant a lot for her. Was she missing her home? Paul hadn't really thought of that before, as he hadn't missed his home in Veilstone. Maybe the fact that Reggie was the top breeder there, the only actually, and would most likely be anywhere and dropping off another trainer's pokemon helped get rid of the homesickness? Zoey didn't seem to have that reassurance.

So Paul let her joke and laughed along with her.

Once they got to the Contest Hall, just for a look since Paul had only ever seen them from the inside, he noticed Dawn, Ash and Brock nearby, on a small practise battle field. He pointed them out to Zoey, who instantly suggested they go over and help out.

Though from what Paul could see, they were fine enough already. He was also confused because Ash had an Aipom with him, and he seemed to be training for the Contest instead of the League. Dawn, Paul could understand, because she had told him what her dream was. She was practising with her piplup and a buneary, both of which seemed incredibly enthusiastic.

"Hey people!" Zoey shouted, just before Ash's aipom let off a massive Swift.

"Hi!" Ash called instantly. He noticed Paul and his grin got even bigger. "Hey, Paul!"

"You know them?" Zoey blinked, looking down at Paul, who nodded.

"I met Dawn when we both got our first pokemon." He explained, nodding to the girl, who waved happily before going back to her pokemon. "Then I met Ash and Brock when I got kinda . . . kidnapped."

"That was you in the paper? Huh. No wonder the Joy of the half-way point didn't want to give any details." Zoey hummed. "She probably didn't want to discourage starting Trainers."

Before Paul could say anything about why so many people were so interested in the kidnapping to begin with, Ash and his friends came over. Dawn stayed where she was, doing more practise with her pokemon, which was fine since Paul wanted a good challenge in the Contest.

"I'm Zoey." Zoey introduced herself, holding out a hand. "You're Brock Takeshi, of the Pewter Gym, right?"

"Formerly that is." Brock said, shaking her hand.

"Nice. And you?"

"I'm Ash-"

"Ketchup." Paul finished, unable to resist snickering at Ash's red face.

" . . . Seriously?" Zoey said, looking a bit startled.

"No, it's Ash _Ketchum_." Ash snapped. Then he relaxed. "He does that nearly everytime we meet."

"We've only met, like, three times." Paul pointed out.

"Same difference."

"By the way you were training, I'm gonna guess and say you're competing in Contests as well?" Zoey asked Ash, who shook his head. The red haired girl looked shocked.

"I'm only entering because Aipom wanted to do it." Ash explained, pointing to the little monkey on his shoulder. "Dawn's doing Contests properly, though. I'm entering the pokemon League."

" . . . Then _why _are you doing a Contest?" Zoey snapped, suddenly angry. Paul shrank away from her a little. She had seemed so nice, but now- what was wrong?

"Uh . . ." Ash seemed a bit lost. "H-hold on, why's Paul here, anyway?"

"He's entering the pokemon Contest as well, and unlike you he's doing it properly." Zoey said coldly.

"Uh, I thought you were doing the Gym challenge?" Ash blinked. Paul sighed. Great.

"What!?" Zoey cried, turning to Paul with wide eyes. She looked hurt. "You can't do that! It's Contests or Gym battles, one or the other!"

"But I . . . I couldn't decide which one." Paul tried to explain himself, but Zoey got even angrier.

"Then you should have just gone with a random one instead of doing both! You can't do Contests and Gym battles, the styles contrast way too differently!"

Paul's protests died when the red haired girl walked away. To think, she could have been his friend or even a rival in the Contest stuff, but considering how much she seemed to hate people doing two things at once . . . maybe being a partial Freelancer wasn't the best idea.

"Don't listen to her." Brock said, putting a hand on Paul's shoulder. "She might seem harsh right now, but she'll come around."

_But what if she doesn't? She was nice. _Paul thought miserably.

"Hey, what happened?" Dawn asked, finally coming over with her Piplup and Buneary.

As Brock explained what just happened with Zoey, Paul tried to ignore the nagging feeling that Zoey was going to kill him if she saw him again. And Ash as well, considering how Ash seemed to have no interest in the contest other than making his pokemon happy.

"Listen to Brock." Ash said, from beside him. Paul glanced up at the taller Trainer. "He knows what's best for everyone, somehow. I'm not entirely sure how."

" . . . He's kinda like Reggie too." Paul said quietly.

"I think I forgot to ask, but who's Reggie?" Ash asked carefully. "Is he a friend?"

"No, he's my older brother."

"Wait, the one who won everything from Kanto to Sinnoh?" Ash yelped. Paul nodded. "W-wow . . . where is he? I wanna battle him!"

"Uh, considering how many pokemon you have now, and their levels, I don't . . . think that's a good idea, Ketchup." Paul told him.

"Stop with the Ketchup thing." Ash moaned. He didn't comment on Paul basically saying he was too weak to battle his awesome brother, though.

**oooo**

The Contest was due to start incredibly soon, and Paul was still having trouble getting his outfit on. The dressing room was meant for several people normally, but everyone else had already done what they needed, and from the noises of distress coming from the second one, Dawn was in that one.

The door opened and Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, walked in. The older boy grinned at the sight of Paul trying to get the headband on.

"Lemme guess, superstar?" Ash joked.

"Uh . . . no." Paul muttered, finally putting down the headband. He was trying to get on an outfit that looked fancy but actually wasn't. It was a one-piece outfit, dark blue with white ivy-like vine things all over the shoulders, and a small black cape around his shoulders. The headband was white with dark blue ivy vines, and the shoes Paul wore were just plain black.

The only problem was that Reggie had sent it yesterday, looking stunned at the fact that Paul was doing a Contest. Paul thought that maybe he was so shocked he forgot to send the right sized headband. The one he had was too big.

"You know, you could tie it up." Ash suggested, nodding to the white and blue vined headband. "At the side, it'll give you a bit of style."

"It's not me who's getting shown off." Paul muttered.

"Yeah, but from what Zoey told Dawn, you're still drawing a lot of attention to yourself." Ash told him. "Here, I've had a bit of experience with headbands. I have a friend who wears a bandana."

"Ok."

Once Ash had tied the headband on for Paul, the smaller of the two looked in the mirror. Ash had been right, surprisingly enough. The headband tied up to the side did look a lot better than what he was planning, and when Lepus hopped onto the table to look at his matching headband, Paul grinned. Even if he screwed up and fell on his rear, Paul was sure they'd be a hit.

And then the nerves came back like a train, hitting him at full speed.

"Hey, don't worry about anything." Ash soothed, patting his back. "The first time doing this stuff is always nerve-racking, but when you get used to it, it'll be better, I swear."

"How do you know? I mean, you've only entered because of Aipom, right?" Paul asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah, that's true, but I've also entered a few Hoenn Contests as well, you know." Ash laughed. "Anyway, the Contest here is starting soon, so we'd better get to the Waiting Room."

Paul nodded and the two, along with Pikachu and Lepus, dashed off. When they got into the Waiting Room, Paul counted at least twenty different coordinators, and if you add on himself, Ash, Dawn and Zoey, wherever she was, that made at least twenty four participants.

"Does the Contest always have this many people?" Paul asked Ash, as they took seats near the back. There was a large board behind them, stating which coordinator went and when. A quick glance told Paul he was number 12.

"In Hoenn the Contest usually had about . . . sixteen people." Ash told him. "I guess they're a lot more popular here, though."

Huh. Even if Paul had watched the Contests of TV several times before, he'd never bothered to count the amount of people in the first round, only preferring to watch the second one more closely because it was more difficult. However, since Paul was going to be doing a musical number for his Performance round, Paul felt as though the first round was going to be more difficult.

The door opened up, and Dawn, along with Piplup, Brock and, shockingly enough, Zoey, walked in quickly. Zoey spotted Ash and Paul, and walked over with a sense of purpose. Paul just wanted to shrink and fade away.

" . . . Brock's talked a bit of sense into me." Zoey finally sighed, after what seemed like an hour. The Contest announcer, Marian, had already started talking. "He said that it shouldn't matter if you do Contests, Gym battles, or both. Doesn't mean I should like it, but I won't give the two of you any grief. Apparently you're a good Trainer, Ash, and Paul, I've seen what you can do. So . . . sorry, and good luck."

Then she walked away, leaving a very confused Ash and Paul. The two glanced at each other and shrugged simultaneously.

" . . . I'm not complaining." Ash eventually said.

Paul nodded and turned to the large TV, which was a column with four screens on each side, for the Coordinators to watch everyone else's performance. Great, even more people staring at him.

Paul glanced at the board behind him again, and checked his number. 12, right there. Apparently Dawn was before him, making her 11, and Ash was 6. Zoey seemed to be up first, though. Even if Paul didn't think he'd make it to the second round, he decided to look at everyone's Appeals and check the styles to see if he could find a flaw, or something like that, in their battling.

The Performance round was finally started, and Paul turned his attention back to the screen.

"_And now for the first round of the Jubilife Contest, the Performance round!" _Marian grinned at the audience. _"First up, it's Zoey from Snowpoint city!"_

Zoey ran out in her white suit, making Paul wonder when she had gone out of the Waiting Room.

"_Alright Misdreavus, curtains!" _Zoey shouted, throwing out a Seal covered pokeball.

When the ball opened, black smoke came out of it. Then came glowing red eyes, which made everyone visibly shiver. Zoey was going for a creepy act, then.

The eyes disappeared, and revealed Zoey's Misdreavus. The smoke disappeared with a quick Psychic ordered by Zoey, and then they launched into their Appeal. Paul lost track of the amount of times he was stunned, and eventually just concentrated on how well Zoey could use her moves. It seemed she went for a type of flashy yet powerful move style, dazzling the opponent and attacking. Tricky, but if Paul could get past those moves . . .

Then Zoey was gone, and Marian was calling in another Coordinator. Zoey came back and was surrounded by Dawn and her two pokemon, cooing over how well she used Misdreavus's moves and the smoke for an amazing Appeal. Paul tuned it out and watched the screen.

Ash got called out, and Brock took his place next to Paul. Ash's Appeal mainly involved usage of Aipom's Swift, with Focus Punch thrown in as well, and got a good response from the crowd and the Coordinators inside the Waiting Room. When he came back, everyone, even Zoey, clapped him for a job well done. Paul had to admit, the style had been completely random, yet it seemed to be planned at the same time. Was that a style of Ash's? So far, Paul had seen all of Ash's pokemon, which consisted of Pikachu, Starly, Turtwig and Aipom. All of which were speedy pokemon, but of course Turtwig would eventually evolve and get slower. So, mostly random speedsters. Ok then.

Finally it was Dawn's turn. She used her Piplup, having it spin and use Bubblebeam at the same time. Clever move and strangely enough Piplup pulled it off. From what Paul knew about Piplups, they were generally more prone to getting dizzy than other pokemon, if you didn't count a spinda or something. The Appeal ended in Dawn's Piplup spinning again, and making the bubbles from his Bubblebeam explode and make the stage glitter. Flashy, yet slightly weak. Paul thought that even if Dawn didn't realise it, Dawn was covering her Piplup's weaknesses by using moves and making them special, to dazzle the opponents' pokemon so they couldn't attack.

Only when Dawn came back into the room did Paul realise he was meant to be out there now. He quickly got up and dashed out of the room, making many of the others laugh at his panic, and then made his way to the stage as fast as he could before they said his own name.

"And now, we've got yet another new coordinator!" Marian was telling the crowd, as he finally made it to the stage. Paul paused just before the curtains, and took a deep breath.

_Remember what Zoey said . . . Pretend it's just practise. You did fine then, just pretend its practise . . ._

"And now, we have number twelve!" Marian shouted. "Paul from Veilstone city!"

The curtains opened up and Paul dashed out, and then-

What had Zoey said?

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I kinda forgot the thing last chapter, so I'll quickly put it here. Yes, this means everyone's teams.

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 9, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

**Buneary (Lepus) - Level: 7, Ability: Limber, Gender: Male, Nature: Hardy**

**Ash's team:**

**Pikachu - Level: ?, Ability: Static, Gender: Male, Nature: Brave**

**Aipom - Level: ?, Ability: Pickup, Gender: Male, Nature: Impish**

**Starly - Level: ?, Ability: Keen Eye, Gender: Male, Nature: Docile**

**Turtwig - Level: ?, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Careful**

**Dawn's team:**

**Piplup - Level: 10, Ability: Torrent , Gender: Male, Nature: Adamant**

**Buneary - Level: 9, Ability: Run Away, Gender: Female, Nature: Docile**

**Brock's team:**

**Bonsly - Level: ?, Ability: Sturdy , Gender: Male, Nature: Naïve**

**Croagunk - Level: ?, Ability: Anticipation , Gender: Male, Nature: Quirky**

**Zoey's team:**

**Glameow- Level: ?, Ability: Limber , Gender: Female, Nature: Gentle**

**Misdreavus- Level: ?, Ability: Levitate, Gender: Female, Nature: Naughty**

Renny: . . . I realise we only know two people's team levels, but there's a reason. Brock we won't know until Paul has a look, and Ash we won't know until the Oreburgh Gym. Big shock for Paul. Lol pun. Anyway-

Paul: Is this a cliffhanger?

Renny: You care?

Paul: No, I just don't want to look like an idiot. _Again . . ._

Renny: *smiles* What was that last bit?

Paul: Nothi- WHERE DID THAT CHAINSAW COME FROM.

Renny: COME HERE PUNK!

Green: . . . She seems busy.

Red: Huh . . . Um, anyway . . . read and review?


	7. Chapter 7- The Jubilife Contest Part 2

Renny: We get a chapter in Zoey's POV! Mainly because I have no idea how to do the Appeal with Paul as the 'narrator', but Zoey's also one of my favourite contest rivals. Because she's awesome.

Green: *sighs* Well, not like we do anything else here, anyway.

Renny: So, let's get on with this! It's the seventh chapter, which means it's Red's turn for the disclaimer.

Red: I still don't get why I'm even here. If I'm not in the story, then why-

Renny: Hush. Disclaimer.

Red: . . . Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

Zoey was a Coordinator with a passion for battling, but she didn't like Gyms much.

In her opinion, a Trainer should do one thing and stick to it- Freelancers who did everything were lazy and silly. Even worse were the people who did Gyms and Contests, because the styles contrasted a lot, which also meant that the person might get confused and end up doing a Contest in a Gym battle, or the other way around.

She also didn't like Trainer's who did things for fun, like that Ash Ketchum. Yeah, the thing he did for his Aipom was nice, but if he was doing the Sinnoh League, then why should he enter a Contest with Aipom? Dawn, who, according to Paul, was actually doing Contests properly, should raise him.

Speaking of Paul, she did sort of feel sorry for him. The way she had reacted to him saying he was basically a partial Freelancer, doing Contests and Gyms, was a bit unfair since she had seen what he could do. However, her opinion stuck, and she got mad at him. However, she didn't blow up completely like she would have normally done, mainly because she'd seen his confidence issues.

And those same exact issues were causing him to freeze up on stage at this very moment.

The crowd was silent, confused, watching Paul. If Zoey looked close enough to the screen, she could swear she saw him shivering. It didn't help that one or two of the coordinators in the Waiting Room were muttering to themselves either, but Paul couldn't hear them, so Zoey just glared at them.

She made a split second decision, and ran out of the room as fast as she could.

Turning all the halls she had gone through before, Zoey made her way to the stage as quickly as she could. Every step seemed to take forever, and when she finally got there, it seemed like an hour had passed. Paul was still frozen, the crowd was still silent, and Marian looked like she was about to call Paul off the stage and disqualify him for wasting the judges' times.

She ran out onto the stage, ignoring the gasps she got when she appeared. Zoey grabbed Paul's shoulder and spun him around, and steeled herself to speak.

"Forget everything I said." Zoey told him. Paul looked shocked, which was understandable. "I didn't think about what you'd be like on a real stage instead of just having a bunch of wild pokemon watching. Forget what I said."

"U-uh . . ."

"Forget it. Don't pretend you're in practise; in fact, don't pretend the audience isn't even watching." Zoey ordered the smaller ten year old (yes, she was ten as well). "Just have fun. That's what Contests are all about. It's about how much fun you and your pokemon have. I know you've got an amazing Appeal, but it won't mean a thing if you don't enjoy yourself, as much as your pokemon is. This is the real thing, but have fun, ok?"

"Um, o-ok, Zoey." Paul murmured. He glanced upwards and sort of shrank away. Zoey followed his gaze.

And saw herself, still gripping his shoulders, on the large screen that was used mainly to show the audience who couldn't see the Appeals or battles as well what was going on. Her face, on screen, turned a little bit red, but she smiled shakily.

"Folks, I don't think we've ever seen this before!" Marian called, through the awkward silence. The screen switched to the announced as she spoke. "Never before have we seen another Coordinator come on stage like this! How noble, how kind!"

Then the screen switched back to Zoey and Paul, who were both red in the face. Zoey quickly let go of Paul's shoulders and stepped back, smiling a little bit more sincerely.

"Have fun, Paul." Zoey told him one last time. She dashed off the stage, ignoring the cheers and clapping of the audience, and the judges for that matter, and went back to the Waiting Room.

"Zoey!" Dawn called, as soon as she was inside.

Zoey slumped against the door, ignoring all the stares she was getting from her fellow Coordinators. Dawn, Ash and Brock came over to her, unknowingly shielding her from view.

"Hey." Zoey panted, feeling as though she was about to faint with relief. She hadn't expected everything to suddenly go like that, all she had thought about was getting Paul to stop panicking.

"That was amazing, what you did." Brock smiled at her kindly.

"Yeah, yeah . . . feels like I kinda screwed up, though." Zoey said, still sort of breathless.

"How? You basically just saved Paul from stage fright!" Ash cried, throwing his arms out in a dramatic way. "You didn't screw up at all!"

"No, I guess not. But . . . I still kinda gave him a bit of an unnecessary amount of attention. And myself as well . . ." Zoey muttered, sliding down the door.

"Hey, no need to worry!" Dawn laughed.

"_And, after that lovely display of sportsmanship, we have Paul from Veilstone city doing his Appeal!" _Marian called suddenly.

The whole room turned to the screen, Zoey included. Paul still looked incredibly nervous, but at least he wasn't frozen. Hopefully Zoey wouldn't have to pull another thing like that again.

"_Lepus, front and centre!" _Paul finally shouted, throwing out his Buneary's pokeball.

The purple coloured ball exploded in a mass of black smoke, making Zoey wonder just when he'd gotten the Smoke Seals like she'd suggested. There was silence for a few seconds, and Zoey was just about to get up and dash off _again_, when she heard exactly what she'd heard in the forest.

"_You and I go hard at each other like we're going to war."_

The music started up, and the whole crowd gasped as a massive Ice Beam flew out of the smoke.

"_You and I go rough, we keep throwing things and slamming the door."_

During that part, as Zoey had advised, Lepus, unseen by the audience, spun rapidly inside the smoke on the 'rough' part. At the end of the sentence, the Buneary used a Dizzy Punch, which Zoey had helped teach, and the smoke was 'punched' away and disappeared completely.

"_You and I get so damn dysfunctional, we start keeping score."_

Now, here was harder part. Lepus was more agile than Paul, so he was able to pull off the different dance moves expertly. But that was why Zoey was there. The two stomped their feet on the beat, and spun on the 'dysfunctional', and made a sudden stop sign with their hands/paws on the 'score'.

"_You and I get sick, yeah, I know that we can't do this no more."_

A bit of fancy footwork was made here. It looked like a tap dance, but neither was doing the delicate movements of a tap dance, instead a more pop styled footwork.

The music pace changed, and Lepus hopped onto the centre stage, and Paul stayed where he was.

"_Yeah, but baby there you go again, there you go again, making me love you."_

More of the fancy footwork, but only on Paul's part now. At this point, Lepus had started spinning, charging up for an Attract. He let off the pink hearts with a happy bounce on the 'love'.

"_Yeah, I stopped using my head, using my head, let it all go."_

Now the two were back in synch with each other, although Lepus had fired off a Dizzy Punch that made his body look as though it was literally letting off some kind of white energy.

"_Got you stuck on my body, on my body, like a tattoo."_

Lepus had bounced backwards, but then spun in the air in a backwards somersault.

"_And now I'm feeling stupid, feeling stupid, crawling back to you."_

Paul swept his arms upwards every two or three words, and on the last part he thrust his arms forwards. Lepus copied him exactly, although the Buneary couldn't see him.

Paul stopped dancing suddenly as the music changed again. Then came the difficult part.

"_So I cross my heart and I hope to die,"_

Zoey cheered silently. Lepus, as he and Paul had wanted, had pulled off the frozen hearts move. On the 'heart' the Buneary let off a massive Attract, and then on the 'die', he fired an even bigger Ice Beam that froze every single heart, somehow suspending them in the air as well.

"_That I'll only stay with you one more night,"_

Lepus jumped up, and readied the Pound attack.

"_And I know I said it a million times,"_

The music got a bit more beat-ish, and Lepus started bouncing along all of the heart, smashing each one with his Pound attack.

"_But I'll only stay with you one more night."_

As soon as all of the frozen hearts were gone, and making scattered glittered that were both blue and pink at the same time, Lepus leaped down from the air and posed, along with Paul, in the pause that came before the second part of the song. Zoey had helped to shorten it since it lasted a while, and the maximum amount of time that was strictly allowed was two and a half minutes, not three. So they'd decided on shortening the song a little.

"_Yeah, baby, give me one more night!"_

Lepus and Paul both did a sort of backflip and then landed on their hands for a split second, and then got back onto their feet after pushing off their hands.

"_Yeah, baby, give me one more night!"_

This time Lepus did the backflip on his own, and Paul caught him in one hand, holding the Buneary high up.

"_Yeah, baby, give me on more night!"_

He threw Lepus into the air, and Lepus started up a Dizzy Punch. The Buneary spun around five times before landing on the ground again, his ears still glowing.

"_So I cross my heart and I hope to die,"_

This time, when Paul raised his arm as a signal, Lepus jumped into the air again and shot off a single Attract heart.

"_That I'll only stay with you one more night,"_

Lepus charged up another Ice Beam, still in the air, and paused.

"_And I know I said it a million times,"_

The Buneary fired the Ice Beam on the ground, making a sort of cradle that took hold of the heart. Lepus jumped onto the heart and waited again.

"_But I'll only stay with you one more night!"_

As a finisher, the Dizzy Punch that had been glowing on Lepus's ears was thrown right at the heart, punching straight through it and then onto the ice, creating a sort of pink snowy sunset effect.

Lepus used Bounce, spinning several times as he made his way back to Paul, and then both did a bow to the audience.

There was silence.

Paul looked up, looking worried, and then comically terrified as the entire crowd, and the Coordinators in the Waiting Room, burst into screams and cheers of pure joy and amazement. Even the judges were joining in as well, and Marian seemed at loss for words.

Zoey smirked. She pitied anyone who had to follow that performance up.

"_A-and now . . . we have the judges' . . . opinions!" _Marian eventually said, after almost two entire minutes of applause and cheers. The crowd and the coordinators went silent.

"_I . . . I've never seen anything like that!" _Mr Contesta gasped out, looking as though he was in the most amazing dream ever. _"The- the simple moves were made so amazing by the way the two of you moved, and . . . well done, dear boy!"_

"_I can't say anything other than this was even better than remarkable!" _Mr Sukizo cried.

"_I'm almost at loss for words, but I'll try my best." _Nurse Joy said softly. _"The work between the two of you was amazing, and the way you not only showed off your pokemon's moves, but its other skills at the exact same time, was truly something to remember. Well done, Paul!"_

Zoey grinned, looking around at the Waiting Room as Paul went off stage, cuddling Lepus as though the Buneary was a teddy bear. The entire room were chatting amongst themselves, and the few that were after Paul, around about ten of them, were looking incredibly nervous. Zoey heard a few people utter 'how am I gonna compete with that' almost constantly.

"Hey, maybe we should go and meet Paul in the hallway?" Brock suggested. "After all, with the response he got on stage, how will everyone in here react when he comes in?"

"Good idea." Ash nodded.

Brock led the way out of the Waiting Room, all of them unnoticed by the remaining Coordinators. Aipom and Pikachu hung off Ash's shoulders, chatting animatedly with Dawn's Piplup, who was on Dawn's head so he could actually look at them without craning his neck. Probably chatting about the performance.

They found Paul kind of leaning against the wall a minute later. He noticed them and pushed off, still holding Lepus, and then sank down to his knees with a weak smile.

"That was amazing!" Dawn cried, as soon as everyone had gotten to him. Paul just gave a tiny squeak.

The group sat down around him, and Zoey sat next to the boy, mulling over what she wanted to say.

Yes, she was still angry that he wasn't choosing one thing, but . . . that Appeal was even better than what she'd seen in the forest, and the reaction of the audience and the judges, not to mention the audience's most likely reaction at home as well, was amazing enough that they might just give Paul the Ribbon there and then. However, the rules stated he had to win the battle section as well, but he had been guaranteed a place in that with his Appeal anyway.

"T-thanks . . ." Paul whispered. He still looked terrified.

"You doing ok?" Brock asked.

"I . . . think so . . ."

"You know, if you're worried about getting to the second round, then don't be." Ash laughed. "You've definitely gotten yourself a place!"

"R-right . . ."

" . . . Hey, guys? Could I talk to Paul alone for a minute?" Zoey asked carefully.

The others, though they looked a bit cautious (probably because of how she reacted when she found out he was doing Gym battles as well as Contests), nodded and stood up. Zoey stood as well and helped Paul up, and then she dragged him into a changing room nearby.

She shut the door and turned to Paul, and then sent out Glameow.

"You were amazing." Zoey said shamelessly, she could admit that because he had been, truly, amazing.

"Uh . . ."

"I know what I said yesterday, but . . ." Zoey sighed and took a deep breath. "But I changed my mind about you. I may not like the fact that you've took both Contests and Gyms on, but the way you were on stage, and the way you pulled off those moves . . . I think you're one of the few people who can pull of the whole Freelancer thing, you know?"

Glameow nodded, and gestured to Lepus.

"And him. You said you found him and he almost beat Milo, despite being a lower level, yeah?" Paul nodded, so Zoey carried on. "That means he can take on massive challenges. Teach him a few fighting type attacks and that Oreburgh Gym badge is as good as yours, Paul. He should learn Jump Kick soon enough, it's basically a faster way of using Bounce."

"I . . . don't wanna sound rude or anything, but . . . why are you telling me this?" Paul quietly asked.

" . . . I want you to do well." Zoey told him. "I know that technically we're rivals and all that, but I want to help you out and this is my way of doing it. Contests and Gym battles will be easy for you if you can work out how to do both, separate or even mixed together. And besides, it's not every day you see a dancing Buneary and his singing Trainer, is it?"

Paul smiled. "Thanks, Zoey."

**oooo**

Almost fifteen minutes later the two went back into the Waiting Room, which was enough time for other Coordinators to do their own Appeals. Luckily they hadn't missed the announcements for who was going into the second round, but Marian had just started them, so they quickly sat next to Ash, Dawn and Brock and watched the screen.

"_And now, after carefully considering each Appeal, the judges have made their decision, and these lucky eight coordinators will be moving on to the final round!" _Marian shouted, pointing to the large screen and making the camera focus on that.

Zoey noticed Paul looking nervous, and laughed. "Come on, you've got a place, no questions asked."

Paul didn't answer her because the second round participants were being announced.

The first card on the screen showed Zoey. She grinned and silently cheered, hugging Glameow, who purred loudly. The second and third cards showed a couple of boys who Zoey didn't know, and then the fourth showed Ash, surprisingly enough.

"Good job, Ash." Dawn congratulated her friend.

"Thanks, and nice job on getting through as well, Zoey!" Ash grinned. Zoey nodded and turned back to the screen.

The fifth and sixth were a boy and a girl who, again, Zoey didn't know. The seventh was Dawn, which made the girl squeal happily.

And the eighth . . .

The card turned, and revealed Paul.

The entire room broke out into applause, shocking the group sitting by themselves. A few of the Coordinators who hadn't gotten through cheered as well, and more than one person chanted Paul's name several times. The poor boy looked even more startled to see so many cheering for him.

"Yeah, he's in as well!" Ash cried, jumping up and doing a short happy dance. "That's all four of us!"

"I'll win the whole thing, though!" Dawn warned him.

"Hey, you're a newbie here." Zoey chuckled. "Don't expect to win the first Contest you take part in. Same goes for Ash and Paul as well."

"I've been in Contests before." Ash informed her.

Zoey stared at him, and then shook her head. _Don't go mad at him,_ she said to herself. Besides, his Appeal had been good. So it made sense he'd been in them before.

But nothing would compare to Paul's Appeal. Zoey was certain everyone agreed with her on that.

"_We'll have a short ten minute break so the coordinators can choose their second pokemon for the Battle round. For those of you who are first-timers," _Marian announced. _"This means that you have a choice for the Battle round. You can choose the pokemon you used in the Performance round, or you can choose a different pokemon. In some Contests, this is different, but when you come across those Contests the rules will be explained, so don't worry!"_

"She may as well have said 'no need to worry'." Dawn said, blinking slightly.

"That's when I worry the most." Ash and Brock said in perfect unison.

Dawn stuck her tongue out.

"So, who are you gonna use for the second round?" Zoey asked, as Ash, Brock and Dawn broke out into an interesting conversation.

"I'm going with Milo." Paul said. "I think people are kind of expecting me to go with Lepus, since he was so good in the Performance round, but if they try and counter a normal type they'll get a shock."

"I'm going with Glameow myself." Zoey nodded. His reasoning was pretty good, actually. It made sense, if you used a pokemon for the Performance round, you should use a different one for the Battle round so your opponents won't know how to counter your moves.

However, Zoey had seen a bit of Paul's battle style. As far as she knew, Milo didn't know Leaf Storm, which was a good move for a grass type to know in a Contest. Paul had told her he wanted to try and imitate it using Razor Leaf, but it was difficult to get the leaves to glow like Leaf Storm does. Then again, he had just started over a week ago, so Zoey wasn't going to judge him based on ideas and theories.

"Who do you think the others will use?" Paul asked, looking at the other coordinators who were still competing with them.

"No idea, but let's hope we can beat them." Zoey said. Paul nodded.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: I've never heard of or seen a Contest Performance round where someone sings and dances with their pokemon, so that's why I made the response to Paul's Appeal like that. The people were just so amazed that they clapped and clapped. Anyway, teams!

**Paul's team: **

**Turtwig (Milo) - Level: 9, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Calm**

**Buneary (Lepus) - Level: 7, Ability: Limber, Gender: Male, Nature: Hardy**

**Ash's team:**

**Pikachu - Level: ?, Ability: Static, Gender: Male, Nature: Brave**

**Aipom - Level: ?, Ability: Pickup, Gender: Male, Nature: Impish**

**Starly - Level: ?, Ability: Keen Eye, Gender: Male, Nature: Docile**

**Turtwig - Level: ?, Ability: Overgrow, Gender: Male, Nature: Careful**

**Dawn's team:**

**Piplup - Level: 10, Ability: Torrent , Gender: Male, Nature: Adamant**

**Buneary - Level: 9, Ability: Run Away, Gender: Female, Nature: Docile**

**Brock's team:**

**Bonsly - Level: ?, Ability: Sturdy , Gender: Male, Nature: Naïve**

**Croagunk - Level: ?, Ability: Anticipation , Gender: Male, Nature: Quirky**

**Zoey's team:**

**Glameow- Level: ?, Ability: Limber , Gender: Female, Nature: Gentle**

**Misdreavus- Level: ?, Ability: Levitate, Gender: Female, Nature: Naughty**

Green: You seem to be putting Ash and the others in this a lot.

Renny: Paul isn't gonna go through half the stuff them lot do, and hopefully in chapter 8 or 9 we can get to Oreburgh. If not, then I hope I can find something to do with the pokemon . . . Oh, wait, no. The Contest is still going on, dammit, I forgot. Oh well, you'll only see Paul's battles in detail though, against . . . hm . . . I won't give anything away!

Paul: Oh, spare me. I'll tell them then.

Renny: *puts tape on his mouth* Care to share?

Paul: Mug myu.

Renny: Sucker. Read and review, people!


End file.
